The Change in the Phone Call
by mph1473
Summary: After Booth and Bones have a fight Booth gets drunk and has a one night stand. What happens when the girl gets pregnant and leaves the baby with Booth? How does Bones help? Does the sudden change in their life cause them to figure out they're meant to be? AU a little OOC but doing my best! Takes place somewhere around season 4 or 5.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first multi-chapter fic, so bear with me folks! I'll do my best to update consistently and I'm hoping that this won't stretch too far beyond a few chapters but considering the ideas that are rolling around it may go on for a while. This is probably going to be a little OOC just so the story line will make sense, but I'll do my best to keep it IC. The idea for this randomly popped into my head after reading a different Bones fic and I got inspired!**

Chapter 1

The morning light shone through the window waking a very hungover Seeley Booth. As he slowly started to come around he became aware of four things very quickly. The first being that he had a throbbing headache from the copious amounts of alcohol he had consumed the night before, the second being that he wasn't in his apartment, three, there was a naked woman lying next to him, the fourth, and probably most important, neither of them were wearing any clothes. _What the hell happened last night? Think Seeley, think! Bones! I had a fight with Bones. I called her a cold fish after she said I was useless. Damn those were some low blows. No wonder I got mad and stormed out. I must've gone to drink at the old pool hall, I just hope that I didn't gamble. That must be where I met her._ Now with some of the details out of the way Booth started to get up to try and leave. He managed to get out of the apartment before his cell phone rang.

"Booth"

"Booth, where the hell are you! We still have a murder to solve and we found some more evidence and we kinda need the FBI to solve this crime."

"Cam? Why are you calling me instead of Bones?"

"Why do you think Seeley? Brennan called Angela after your screaming match and is refusing to speak to you. So, are you coming to the lab?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. Just give me…ugh… _Fuck, where am I?_ 45 minutes?"

"Okaaay. I'll see you then."

* * *

When Booth arrived at the lab nearly an hour later he went to go up to the platform but was stopped by a very angry Angela before he could get there. She glared at him and had her arms crossed in a menacing way that for some reason made the Army trained FBI Agent scared as all hell. "Angela. How are you"

"Don't you Angela me." She hissed out "We need to talk" Booth followed her into her office with Hodgins on his heels. Once the door was closed Angela let him have it. "Booth, what the hell were you thinking? A cold fish! Really?! What the HELL is wrong with you?! You know that Brennan has always felt insecure about how she interacts with people and that whenever someone calls her that it chips away a little at her soul! And then YOU of ALL people go and call her that! It's a damned good thing she didn't go home after she showed up at our place in tears last night or you would be a dead man!" At that point Booth looked at Hodgins in disbelieve, _I can't believe I made Bones cry. Damn it. What the hell was I thinking?_

"It's true man. She showed up at our door around 11 and practically collapsed in Ange's arms. I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it."

"I didn't mean it. She is anything but a cold fish and I know that. I was just so angry that it just came flying out of my mouth."

"Well, you need to fix it, Booth. A broken Bren isn't good and who knows what it'll do to her if she stays broken too long." As Booth turned to leave Hodgins piped up and asked "Why didn't you say anything then Booth? Why didn't you tell her you didn't mean it?" All Booth could do was look at the floor in shame, eventually, he muttered out "I don't know but I am going to fix it." At that, he went flying out of the office to go fix things with Bones.

* * *

Booth came into Bones' office looking so guilty it almost hurt Brennan to see it, but she swore to herself that she had to keep herself calm and to not let her emotions take control like they had last night.

"Hiya Bones." He spoke timidly

"Agent Booth. Dr. Saroyen has the new evidence for you." She spoke in such a cold and distant manner that it startled Booth she didn't even look up from the file she had in front of her. _Agent Booth! She hasn't called me Agent Booth since we first met._

"Bones, please, can we talk."

"What about Booth?"

"Last night. The fight we had."

"I don't want to talk about it Booth. You said what you wanted to say."

"I didn't want to say it Bones. I didn't mean it."

"Then why did you say it?" Her voice started to get a little louder at this point and she finally turned in his desk chair so she would face him.

"I don't know. I was so mad that I wanted to hurt you and that tumbled out." The look that crossed Bones' face at that just about broke his heart.

"You wanted to hurt me?" Her voice sounded so vulnerable and she had tears brimming in her eyes.

"Oh, Bones." Booth got down on his knees in front of her so that they would be on eye level. He put his hands on her knees gently and gave a light squeeze as he started to speak "No. I didn't want to hurt you. I was just angry and I said something that I didn't mean. I wish more than anything that I could take it back." After a few moments of silence Booth grabbed Bones' hand "You know that I'd never hurt you, right?" She nodded in agreement then she squeezed his hand before she spoke; "I'm sorry Booth."

"What for Bones?"

"For calling you useless. I didn't mean it. I really am sorry. Will you forgive me?"

"Do you forgive me Bones?" She nodded adamantly "Of course I forgive you. We are going to fight sometimes, but you're my person and we'll forgive each other." She looked down at him with a look of confusion "I don't understand what that means." Booth let out a small chuckle before he pulled her down into his arms for one of their 'guy hugs'. "It means you're stuck with me Bones." _Oh, man, if I never let her go it will be too soon._

* * *

 **AN: Good? Bad? Review, please!**

 **Also the real stuff is coming up next, this was just the backstory to the upcoming chaos and FLUFF. I'm a backstory girl, what can I say?**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I generally won't update this often but I was sort of on a roll.**

SEVEN MONTHS LATER:

Things had finally gone back to normal in Booth and Brennan's life. It had taken some time because after all the harsh words were said everyone was still on edge, Brennan didn't trust Booth the way she used to and had become distant, putting her walls back up. Booth had spent less time at her place for take-out and paperwork, instead, doing it alone or in her office. But over time things went back to normal. Brennan's walls came back down and the partners again spent most evenings together. They were back to their old ways of late night paper work and take-out at her apartment every night. This was how they were when Booth's phone rang.

"Booth"

"Hello, is this Seeley Booth?"

"Speaking"

"Hello, sir my name is Tyla Bethasda I'm a Social Worker at DC General."

"How can I help you Tyla?" At this point Bones' is watching him intently trying to figure out what is going on.

"Well, we had an incident down at the hospital today that involves you. An infant was brought into our ER this afternoon by a woman, all she told the nurse that she gave the child to was to run her DNA through the FBI database and to look for a parental match because her father was FBI. The woman was gone before we could get any more information out of her."

"Ok, well you would need to contact the FBI directly, I can give you Deputy Director Hacker's phone number." Booth looks at Bones who is mouthing "what's going on?"

"Thank you but that's not necessary. We already ran the tests and have found the identity of the girl's father. It's you, Mr. Booth."

* * *

All the colour drained from Booth's face as he turned to Bones who had been straining to hear the other side of the conversation. By the look on her face, he knew that she got at least the last and most important part of the conversation. _Wait, what! I'm a father again!? When? I didn't sleep with anyone except for that one night. But that was seven months ago. I might not be a genius but I do know that it takes 9 months for a baby to be born. What the hell? What do I do now?_ Eventually, someone calling his name pulls him out of his musings. "Mr. Booth are you still there?"

"Hmm. Oh, yes sorry Ms. Bethasda. I'm still here." Bones was looking at him with a mix of confusion, shock, and a little bit of hurt. She was too stunned to compartmentalize the news she had just heard. "I have a question. How many weeks was the baby?"

"Yes, she is a preemie. We can't be certain but it seems that she was born 2 months early. She's oddly healthy except for standard problems that come up with preemies this age." At some point, Booth had shifted the phone so that both Bones and him could hear what the social worker was saying. Brennan suddenly shot off her place on the couch and grabbed a piece of paper and started scribbling on it. She handed Booth the paper that had questions for Booth to ask the social worker. He rambled off the questions getting the answers he needed while Bones put on her boots and threw Booth's jacket at him. "Ok Ms. Bethasda, we'll be there in 20 minutes."

* * *

The car ride to the hospital was long and quiet. Bones drove, no questions asked because Booth was so far in his own head that Bones had to practically drag him from her apartment to the parkade. About halfway there, Booth looked over at Bones who looked about as deep in thought as he was. They had been friends and partners for so long that he knew exactly what she was thinking. "It was about seven months ago. It was that night that we had that crazy fight. Well, while you went to Angela I went to a bar and got really drunk. I guess I turned back to my old ways and slept with someone." Bones looked over at him a little stunned "We don't need to talk about this. I understand you needed to satisfy a biological urge." Her voice dropped off in a way that made him think that she didn't quite believe what she was saying. She started to bite her lip before she spoke up again "I do have a question. How did she know that you were FBI?"

"It was part of an old pickup line from when I was a rookie. I used to do the same thing when I was in the army. Tell a girl my rank, flash the charm smile and we were off to the races."

"What races?"

"It's an expression Bones. It means that we were things were going the way I wanted."

"Oh."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. Eventually, they pulled into the hospital parking lot and before Bones shut off the engine she turned to Booth and said "Get a paternity test. Get them to take her blood and we'll run the test back at the lab. I'll get Cam to do it." To anyone else, the request would've sounded cold but Booth knew that it was Bones' way of showing her support. "Thanks, Bones." He was debating whether he could ask her what he wanted then he asks "Will you come in with me? I don't think I can do this on my own." Before he could register what was happening, Bones got out of the car and came over opened his door before asking if he was coming. With that, they walked into the hospital to see what was awaiting them on the other side.

 **AN: I hope you all liked this chapter. Let me know what you think about how he found out about his daughter. I thought about other ways but I wanted her to be a preemie and I didn't want the mother around at all, so, there you have it. I know it's short but I don't want to split up the hospital scene. Review, please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry for the delay in this folks. I had this half written or so then life happened and I had school commitments that needed to be dealt with. Then I had a serious case of writer's block. These chapters will get longer at some point but that just seemed like the perfect place to break it up so there you go.  
**

* * *

As Booth and Brennan walked into the hospital Booth thought he was going to either throw up or faint. At some point, he must've stopped walking because the next thing he knew Bones was standing in front of him and squeezing his hands. "Booth, it's going to be ok." Booth let out a snort "Bones, you're the one who believes in empirical evidence, that you don't know anything unless there is tangible proof. So how can you know it's going to be ok?" She let out a sigh before speaking "Well, for starters you are a great father to Parker. I know how much you love him and how much he loves you. You'd do anything for him and I know that. Now you're going to do the same thing for that little girl upstairs. Also, you are a great man who I have yet to see back down from a challenge. I believe in you Seeley Booth and that is my empirical evidence." Booth looked at Brennan completely stunned, he had never heard her say anything like that before and to know that she thought so highly of him made him feel so much better. Before he could react, Brennan pulled him into a hug. Once she let go she said, "Come on Booth."

* * *

Ten minutes later Brennan and Booth were sitting in a conference room waiting for Tyla Bethasda, the social worker, and the doctor in charge of the baby's medical care. The door suddenly the door opened and a young black haired woman came in with an older man. The older man stretched his hand across the table shaking Booth's hand and introducing himself "Hi there, you must be Seeley Booth. My name is Jason Lothian and I am a neonatal specialist who has been working your daughter's case." _My daughter, holy crap._ "Hello and I'm Tyla Bethasda, the social worker. We spoke on the phone" All Booth could do was nod in agreement. Tyla then turned to Brennan and said "I'm sorry we haven't been introduced. You are?"

"I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan. I'm Booth's partner"

"Since you aren't family it would be best if you stepped outside" That comment brought Booth out of his subdued state. "NO! I'm sorry but no, she stays." Booth looked over at Brennan and saw a little smile start to form on her lips.

"Ok then. Just as long as everyone is comfortable." Once the social worker stopped speaking, the doctor began "Well, as you know we called you because the when your daughter was brought into the ER by a woman this evening hospital staff were told to cross reference the FBI database for a parental match. After we began treatment on her we called the FBI and had them run the samples, and they gave us your name Mr. Booth."

At this point Bones' spoke up "I know you said that you cross referenced the FBI database but we would like a paternity test." _Wait, did she say 'we'?_ "I'm a forensic anthropologist with the Jeffersonian and I we have the equipment there to run the test. We would feel more comfortable if the test was run there. There is already someone on their way to pick up the samples."

"Well, Doctor Brennan we did expect the request for a paternity test, but having it run off site is very unusual."

"I work with the FBI and I specifically use my skills to catch murders through scientific techniques that are only used by the brightest scientists in the world. My lab is more than capable of running a simple paternity test. So, I could have the Deputy Director of the FBI make the request or you could hand over the samples and it will be done with this little issue." Booth couldn't help but smile at Bones' need to help him. He thought that if that hadn't worked she would've resorted to blackmail or bribery.

"Alright. You can run the test yourself." _Damn, she is good at getting what she wants_. The next thing Booth knew he was having a needle shoved in the crook of his elbow and a vile was quickly filling up with his blood.

* * *

Brennan had insisted on going up to the NICU to watch them draw the blood and returned 10 minutes later with a tiny vial of blood. She sat there and watched as they drew Booth's blood. She was thinking about how that little girl did have the underlying structure that would highly suggest that he was her father but she didn't say anything, she wanted the test to confirm her suspicions first.

* * *

Brennan's phone rang disrupting the awkward silence in the room and when she picked it up it was Cam telling her that she had arrived at the hospital. She told Cam to wait in the main lobby and that she would be right there to give her the samples. When Brennan appeared in the lobby she quickly spotted Cam and made her way over to her. "Hello Doctor Saroyan, here are the samples for you. Once you get the results please phone me right away and tell me."

Cam immediately noticed that the normally calm and rational Brennan that she knew acting strange, almost jittery and anxious. Before Brennan had a chance to run off she stated: "Doctor Brennan, you never told me what tests I needed to run."

Brennan looked mortified "Oh, I'm so sorry Doctor Saroyan. There will be a few test I'll want to be done eventually but right now all I need you to do is run a paternity test."

"Alright, I'll do it immediately. Doctor Brennan, what's going on? It's not a case because this is not how you like things to be run during an investigation."

"I'll let you know when we figure it out. Call me when you have the results." And with that Brennan had left to go back to be with Booth.

* * *

When Brennan got back to the conference room she walked in to find Booth staring at a stack of papers and Dr. Lothian speaking to the social worker. "What's going on in here." Booth looked up from the stacks of papers he was starring at and finally, his eyes came into focus on Brennan.

"I can't really explain it Bones, just come look at this." Brennan came over and started to shift through the stacks of papers until she came across one that was a birth certificate. Her mouth dropped open in shock then she looked and with as much calm as she could muster looked up to the other people in the room. "How about we wait signing the paperwork until we have the results of the paternity test back." Tyla opened her mouth to object and Brennan simply said: "We are going to wait." She took a deep breath then spoke again "Can you two give us a minute please?"

When the others left, she turned to Booth "Dr. Saroyan has the samples and she assured me that she will call me as soon as she has the results." Booth just stared blankly down at his lap and Brennan wasn't sure he heard her. "Booth? Did you hear what I said?"

"Hmmm. Yep, Cam's got the blood and she'll call ASAP."

"That one I know!" Booth cracked a small smile at her enthusiasm at understanding a common colloquium like that. But the happiness faded as suddenly as it came "I don't understand Bones. Why would someone do this?"

"I don't know Booth. I don't know why someone would give up their own child." She took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves. She knew the last thing Booth needed was to have her fall apart during an event that should be all about him. "Well," she began and Booth looked up at her in curiosity. "maybe she thought that you could provide a better home for her child then she could. Maybe she wanted to save her child from what might have happened if she stayed with her. Maybe she's homeless or is a drug addict and she was raised in the system and wanted to save her from the fate of that." There was a moment of silence then she spoke, all rational thought going out the window "I still don't think that's a good enough reason to give up your child. You're supposed to do everything you can to keep your child. To love them, to show them that they're wanted. Protect them from your past by getting away with it and never give up on your kids." It all came out in one breath and when she stopped she realized what she had said and opened her mouth to apologize but was cut off by Booth "You are absolutely right Bones. This definitely is not the right way to try and protect your child." There was a beat of silence then "Also, she could give a guy a little warning before hand." This time it was Brennan who smiled.

"I'll help you Booth. In whatever way, you need."

"Bones, you don't have to."

"I want to. It's what partners do, right? We help and support each other." _Partners give you rides to the airport, not offer to help you raise your kid who you had with another woman._

"Thank you, Bones. I really mean that. _Thank You."_ Before she could say anything else he wrapped her in a hug.

Right then Brennan's phone rang. She reached to grab it and she checked the ID before answering. "It's Dr. Saroyan." Unknown to them they had both had the same thought _Here we go._

"Brennan."

"Dr. Brennan, it's Dr. Saroyan."

"Yes. I have caller ID.

"Right, so the results of the paternity test are a match. It's positive they are definitely the man who provided this sample fathered the child."

Brennan was shocked into silence and she sighed. Then she looked at Booth and their eyes locked for a moment and they had a conversation without saying anything

"Dr. Brennan? Are you still there?"

"Oh yes, I'm still here. Thank you" Before Cam could say anything else Brennan hung up the phone and turned to Booth. She knew that Booth could read her and she him, so she knew that she had to say it. "The paternity test came back positive Booth. You're the baby's father."

* * *

 **AN: DUN, DUN, DUN. Yeah, we already knew this. I couldn't help myself I had to break it up there.**

 **I couldn't decide when I first started this story if I wanted to have Parker in it or not, but then when I was writing the scene where Brennan is trying to reassure Booth Parker made an appearance even though he wasn't originally in the story. So I changed the original plot so that Booth says he has ANOTHER kid.**

 **I love reviews! They make me happy!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update this! I got stuck halfway through this chapter then life intervened. I promise to do better. I will continue this one reason being that unfished things bother me. On with the show!**

* * *

"The test was positive?" He trusted Cam completely but the question came out before he could stop it.

"Yes, it is."

"What do I do now?" Brennan could hear the emptiness in his voice. She's normally terrible at reading people, but she could always read him. He was in shock. Plain and simple.

"It's up to you Booth."

With that, he started sorting through the stack of papers in front of him until he found what he was looking for, the birth certificate.

"I'm going to sign it Bones. I trust Cam and if she says the test was positive then it's positive."

"I trust her too."

"They want her name. I haven't met her yet and they want me to name her?"

"You don't have to name her yet Booth. There are many cultures where the parents do not name their children until days after birth. In many Native American communities' children were named up to 12 days after the birth and Muslim children were often named at an Aqeequah that took place seven days after the birth. Even Elizabethan children were not always named the day they were born."

"Thanks, Bones. That helps" _She always did have a way of calming him down. Even if it was through her squintiness._

"You're welcome."

He looked up at Bones and she gave him a reassuring smile and he picked up the pen and signed the birth certificate.

Right after he put down the pen Tyla and Dr. Lothian came into the room. "I see you signed the birth certificate." said Tyla.

"Ok." Dr. Lothian cut in "now that the birth certificate is signed we have two options, we can either sit here and discuss your daughter's condition and her medical treatment." Seeing slightly apprehensive looks from the two people across from him he spoke again "Or we can take you to meet your daughter. Which would it be?"

"I'd like to meet my daughter."

"That's what I thought. Come on, I'll take you to her."

Booth and Brennan both got up to follow Dr. Lothian out of the room when Tyla but in "It's family only in the NICU ma'am. You'll have to stay here."

"No, I need her to come with me."

"Oh let her come Tyla. Get your head out of your ass."

"It would be very unusual for a non-family member to come into the NICU the day the child was brought in"

"It's an unusual situation Tyla, I think we can bend the rules a bit." Tyla then slumped back in defeat.

"Thank you." Booth looked at the doctor with appreciation.

"No problem, how long have you two been together? I hope it hasn't been too long."

"We aren't together. We're just work partners."

"Right. Ok, follow me"

* * *

A few minutes later they were walking up to the doors of the NICU. Booth stopped outside the door causing Brennan to nearly run into him.

"Booth?"

"How did we get here Bones?"

"When we got to the hospital we took the elevator up to the third floor and met with a social worker and a Doctor. After that meeting, we walked down a hallway and are now standing in front of the doors of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit about to meet your daughter. Except I have a feeling that's not what you mean."

"You're right Bones. That's not what I mean."

"Tell me what you mean."

"I mean how did I end up the father to a little girl? A little girl who, for all intents and purposes, has no mother. How am I supposed to go in there and be everything that she needs? And how the FUCK could I have been so STUPID!" Brennan looked at him with a mixture of shock and sympathy as he shouted at her.

"I'm sorry Bones. I didn't mean to yell. I'm just…"

"…frustrated. And mad at yourself. I know that you're not mad at me. It's ok Booth. Here is what you are going to do. You are going to walk into that room, you are going to meet your daughter and you are going to be a great father to her. Because you are incapable of being anything else. Now, am I going to drag you into that room or will you go in there willingly?"

With that Booth and Brennan walked into the NICU. The NICU was a large open room with space for ten incubators, five on opposite walls. Each space had a rocking chair, a monitor on the wall to watch the baby's vitals and there was space for extra equipment as needed. Brennan looked at Booth and saw an expression that she had never seen before. He was pale, he looked nervous and frightened, but at the same time, there was a determination in his eyes. She reached over and grabbed his hand. She could tell that while he was determined, he also needed her help and support.

 _Is she holding my hand? Why? I don't care but it feels right._ He gave her hand a squeeze and it calmed him down immensely. The panic suddenly disappeared and he remembered what she had said early, that he was a great man and that he was a great father whose son loved him, so he could do it for his daughter too.

Dr. Lothian was standing next to an incubator to the left of them. They walked over to him and Booth looked down into the clear box that was holding the tiniest baby he's ever seen.

"We haven't gone over her needs or her prognosis yet. I figured that you'd like some time with your daughter first so I'll leave you to it. I'll be back in a few hours to check in on her, if you have any questions or want to speak more I'll be by then, or have one of the nurses page me."

Brennan was more aware of what Dr. Lothian had said then Booth was. He was completely absorbed by the tiny human in the incubator.

"Can I touch her?"

"Yep. Be careful of her leads, we are monitoring her closely, but once we're sure she's ok you can hold her."

"Do you think that's a good idea? She's so little. I don't want to hurt her."

"Babies are tougher then they look Mr. Booth. Even the youngest of preemies are very tough. It can actually make them more resilient for whatever else life will throw at them." Dr. Lothian opened the little doors on the side of the incubator "Alright, here you go. You can pull up the stool and just sit here as long as you like."

Brennan could tell that Booth was hesitant. Not that he was hesitant to touch her, but he was so worried about hurting her that he didn't know where it was safe to do so. "Booth, just put your index finger in her hand. I know you did the same thing with Parker when he was an infant. Her left-hand doesn't have any wires or tubes attached to it. You won't hurt her Booth" _Her reassurance is better than anything that doctor could have said._

Slowly Booth slid his finger into the tiny hand of his daughter then began talking to her.

"Hi, sweetheart. I'm your daddy. I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you, but I will never leave you like your mom did." A small smile pulled at Brennan's lips as she watched the exchange and she was reminded just how sweet and caring her partner was.

Booth continued his one-sided conversation with his daughter for a while longer, telling her about everything he could think of.

"You have an entire family that loves you. You have so many aunts and uncles. A great-grandfather, we call him Pops. He's going to love you. You also have a big brother. His name is Parker. He's seven years old and has always wanted a little sister. You made his dreams come true." He paused for a minute and looked up at Brennan who had moved to the other side of the incubator so that she could see the baby as well. "And this is daddy's best friend. I call her Bones but her name is Temperance. She has a big heart and I think she's going to be around for a while. She's a part of this crazy family too. But she's a little more special. She always has my back, and I bet that she'll watch out for you the same way she watches out for me. I also think she will turn you into a squint before I'll have a chance to object."

Brennan was uncharacteristically quiet throughout this exchange. She just smiles and watched occasionally shifting her gaze from Booth to the baby. She decides to take Booth's lead and she begins to talk to the baby once she can tell that Booth has finished. "Hello, I'm Temperance Brennan. But your father and your brother Parker like to call me Bones. So, it would stand to reason that you'll call me that as well." She looks at Booth who is giving her a smile that she has never seen before. It's a mixture of pride and something that she can't place. "I work with your father solving crimes and catching bad guys. I use science and he uses his gut instincts. The fact that I use my skills as a forensic anthropologist to catch killers, with the help of other scientists, is why your father likes to call me a squint. There's nothing wrong with being a squint. Most of your crazy family is made up of squints. They may only be able to tell you things through the scientific understandings of an event, but they'll still love you no matter what."

Brennan looked up at Booth when she finished speaking and asked; "Was that alright Booth? I hope that I didn't sound too distant."

"No, Bones." He reached across the top of the incubator and gave her hand a squeeze as he continued speaking. "That was good. That was really good. Thank you."

"For what Booth?"

"For everything. You've done so much for me in the past few hours. So, thank you."

For a while no one says anything and they just sit there looking at the baby. Time seems to fly by and slow to a crawl. Everything seems to fade away except for Brennan, Booth and the baby. At some point, Booth looks up at Brennan and he suddenly has an idea. He's not sure if it's the exhaustion, the shock or just amazement that she would go through all of this with him, but he has an idea. _No one else would do this. Go through all of this and sit here with me and my daughter. She's my best friend and I hope my little girl has as much, strength, stubbornness, and brains as she does._

"I think I have her name."

"Oh? What is it"

"Elizabeth Temperance Booth."

* * *

 **AN: What do you think of the name? The idea suddenly popped into my head and I couldn't shake it.**

 **Ok I know this is going to sound like I'm begging for reviews, but I didn't get any on my previous chapter, and those reviews are a hell of a motivator.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: MERRY CHRISTMAS! I DID IT! I GOT ANOTHER UP FOR CHRISTMAS!**

 **Thank you all for the lovely reviews! They made me so happy. I love you all! This is more of a filler chapter, loads of fluff. Brennan is more than a little OOC in this chapter but I needed to give her somewhere to vent that wasn't Angela (I love Angela but she has a tendency to stick her nose in places and I wanted this to be fellow squint-free for a bit)**

* * *

He had never seen her like that. She looked completely dumbstruck. He had managed to render thee Temperance Brennan speechless. _Ha. I've finally done it. I've rendered her speechless._ Eventually, Brennan pulls herself together enough to speak. "Booth." She squeaks out. "Are you sure? If you are going to name her after anyone you should name her after a family member. Someone you love." _She has no idea how true that statement is._

"I did. Elizabeth was my Grams name. And you ARE family, Bones." _She IS named after someone I love._ He knew well enough to not say that aloud; or else she would bolt.

"But…" She was so overwhelmed that she didn't know what to say. She briefly thought about leaving but she decided against it. She knew that having a child named after her was a great honour. She knew that after something like that, and the day that they had, she couldn't leave. No matter how overwhelmed she felt.

Almost as if he could read her thoughts he said: "Bones, you don't have to stay here if you're feeling overwhelmed." He hoped that she wouldn't leave but he knew that if he didn't give her an out and she was hesitant to take it that it would be worse for her.

"I'll be fine, Booth. I'm just going to go to the washroom for a minute." She slid off the stool that she was sitting on and walked out of the NICU after asking directions from a nurse. Booth watched her leave hoping that he hadn't scared her off. He turned back to Elizabeth who had squeezed his finger.

"Hey, sweetheart. Do you like your name? I named you after the two strongest women I've ever known. Elizabeth was my Grams name. She was so tough. She had four older brothers and was tougher than all of them. She was a nurse during the second world war and helped soldiers right there on the battlefield. She kicked anyone's ass who needed it. Even mine." He chuckled at that then he started talking again. "Temperance is my best friend. She's survived the worst things that a person could ever go through but she's still here, and she has got the biggest heart of anyone I know. A lot of people say that she's cold but I know better. The terrible things made her a little skittish about people so she protects herself. But, once you get to know her she's kind and loving. She'll also kick my ass. I guess I like women who can kick my ass and who are stronger than me." _That's the understatement of the year. I'm an ex-gambler who has two kids with two different women. One was from a one night stand that I don't remember._ Unknown to him, Brennan had walked in the room when he was talking about his Grandmother. So, she overheard what he had said.

* * *

Once Brennan got to the washroom she locked the door then slumped down onto the toilet seat. _Holy crap! He named his daughter after me. Why would he do that? Unless- no, he doesn't feel that way. Does he? He can't. He deserves someone so much better than me. Someone who has an open heart._ As Brennan was thinking a voice interrupts her thoughts.

"So, which one is yours?" Brennan turned to the lady who had started washing her hands at the sink beside her.

"Excuse me?"

"Which baby is yours?"

"Oh, she doesn't have a name yet, she does but you would not know it since he just named her. Though she was brought in late last night. She was born prematurely. But, she's not mine. She's my partner's daughter, not mine." The woman looked confused by that statement. "We work together he's also my best friend. It's a complicated situation."

"Everyone in here is part of a complicated situation. My daughter was born three months ago with a spinal cord injury that the doctor caused. She is on a ventilator 24/7 and the doctors don't know if she'll ever get better. On top of that my husband and I are still grad students, I had to go back to work and our landlord evicted us because he's getting a divorce and wants his house back. So nothing here is simple but we're in the same boat."

"I don't know what that means." The lady just smiled at her then elaborated, "It means we are in similar situations."

"No, we aren't. Your daughter has a severe injury with severe and most likely permanent damage while my partner's daughter was born premature but is otherwise healthy. Though as I say it I feel like you don't mean the babies prognosis." The woman just smiled kindly at Brennan.

"You're right. I did not mean the babies prognosis. May I ask you a question?" Brennan was finding it easy to speak with this woman and was finding herself letting her guard down a little.

"Alright."

"Where's the mother? Of your partner's daughter, I mean. Is she not allowed to visit her daughter? Normally you see the mother before you see friends and the father is normally running back and forth between the child and the mother."

Brennan took a minute and observed the woman standing in front of her. She seemed generally curious and even a little concerned, she reminded her of Angela except a little less nosey. With that realization, she decided to speak with the woman some more. "She's not here. Her mother dropped her off at the Emergency Room yesterday and before she left told the nurse to run her DNA through the FBI database and look for a parental match. The only reason we even knew about her was due to an old pick-up line."

"Well, you are a good friend."

"He named her after me. Her middle name is Temperance, which is my first name."

"That is a high honour. It's also a lovely name."

"Thank you. I'm worried that I'll fail at it. Being the person that he needs me to be."

"I don't think you will. He has faith in you. He must if he named his daughter after you."

"I don't believe in faith."

"Ok, he thinks very highly of you. Would you like some advice?"

"I can't promise I'll take it."

"Ok. I'm going to give it anyway. If he named his daughter after you, he must respect you. I don't think he's expecting much of you, just be who you were before this, be his friend."

Brennan thought about what this lady said and slowly nodded, beginning to agree with her. She looked up at the woman and said:

"May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Who do people name their kids after?" Brennan could list hundreds of anthropological reasons why someone names their child after another person but she felt out of her depth and needed help, and she knew that it could not come from Booth.

"Well, when a child is named after someone it is normally because one of the parents wanted to honour the other person. It could also be because they respected, cared for and even loved them." Brennan listened with rapt attention and when she got her answer she thanked the woman then left.

* * *

"Do you really think that?" Booth had been staring at his daughter with such focus that he didn't hear Brennan come over to him.

"Sorry?"

"Do you really think I'm kind and loving?"

"Yes, Bones I do. You care so much about Parker. I honestly believe you love him like he was your own son. You've shown compassion towards the family members of the victims that many people would find hard to do. You love Angela and Hodgins like siblings and you've spent the last seven hours with me, here, helping with my daughter that I had with another woman. There are very few people in this world who would do any of that Bones."

By the end of Booth's speech, Brennan was near tears. She was biting her lower lip and trying to keep the tears at bay. Booth got off the stool that he was sitting on, walked around the incubator, and wrapped Brennan in a hug. Booth could hear quiet, muffled whimpers coming from Brennan and he started to rub small circles on her back. "Shh…Shhh… it's ok, c'mon baby stop crying." Booth winced once he realized which term of endearment slipped out, he was expecting to be verbally and physically slapped by Brennan but it never happened. He just held her and rubbed her back until she stopped crying. Once she did Booth backed away a little while still being able to keep his arms around her. "Are you alright?" He asked quietly, hoping not to break the spell of whatever moment they had fallen into.

"Yes, I am." Brennan took a shaky breath then quietly said: "Thank you."

"What for Bones?"

"For not believing that I'm a cold fish and mean."

A horrified look crossed Booth's face and he pulled her in for another tight hug. "Never Bones. I'd never think that."

"You used too. You've called me cold and told me to get a soul in the past."

Booth held on tighter as he began to explain, thankful that she hadn't wiggled out of his grasp yet. "Oh, Bones. When I called you cold I was so angry that I said that but I never once meant it, and when I told you to get a soul, I hadn't known you for long and I didn't know that you had the kindest soul I'd ever met."

Normally Brennan would have said something about how he couldn't possibly know that because souls weren't real and that there was no evidence to prove it. But, she decided to revel in being in his arms a little while longer.

After a few minutes, Brennan spoke quietly; "I like her name Booth. Thank you for naming her after me."

Booth just smiled, hugged her tighter and said: "You're welcome."

* * *

Neither one of them knew how long they stayed in that position but when they finally put some distance between them they realized that someone had moved Booth's chair to next to hers. This enabled Booth to sit down while keeping a hand on Brennan for the next while.

They hadn't realized how much time had passed until Dr. Lothian came by to do his rounds. He came up to them and after looking at a few of the nurse's notes on the chart and checking Elizabeth's vitals looked at the partners who looked didn't look anything like 'just partners.' "Alright, now that I have some time are you ready to speak about your daughter's prognosis and treatment?" Booth looked at Brennan for support and she just smiled and squeezed his hand. He looked up to the doctor and said "Yes. Yes, we are."

"Ok, if you'll follow me we can get started." Brennan seemed hesitant to leave Elizabeth's side, Dr. Lothian picked up on this and began to reassure her. "Don't worry, the consultation room is across the hall, the nurses will page me if anything happens and we can be back at a moment's notice." Brennan was embarrassed that her nervousness was picked up on and Dr. Lothian said "Don't worry, all the new moms in hear are nervous about it. I give that speech every day."

Booth kept a reassuring hand on the small of Brennan's back leading towards the consultation room. All the while he kept thinking about how nice it sounded to have the doctor refer to Brennan as his daughter's mother and how he wished it was true.

* * *

 **AN: As one reviewer pointed out to me, they thought that Elizabeth was Booth's grandmother's name, and I couldn't find a reference to it anywhere. I always thought that he would name his daughter after her. I'm sorry Brennan was so OOC but that's where I ended up and I like it.**

 **Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: So, things I've learned in the past week, Rome had a twisted sense of democracy before Julius Ceaser got involved and made a mess, the Cree creation story is fantastic, apparently being left handed is something that needs to be commented on in the middle of class, AND writing plot is harder than writing fluff.**

 **Thank you, everyone, who likes, comments and reviews my story. It gives me motivation.**

 **Little warning: I more or less grew up in a hospital, I've got some nutty medical problems so I understand medical jargon and the entire medical organization better then the average 4th year history undergrad, so if I write something that makes no sense (in any way, not just for the medical technicalities) let me know.**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

Dr. Lothian led Booth and Brennan into the consultation room and sat down in an office chair across from a plastic couch. Brennan and Booth sat on the couch while Doctor Lothian took out Elizabeth's medical file and looked over some notes. Booth had gotten increasingly nervous throughout and had grabbed Brennan's hand without realizing.

"Ok. This consult is going to be a tad unorthodox due to the events that led up to this moment. Normally the parents are there for most of the events that led up to their child being in the NICU. I suppose I'll start at the beginning. Yesterday at 9:30 pm your daughter was dropped off at the Emergency Department. We discovered that her oxygen levels were low from apnea, which is when you stop breathing for longer than 20 seconds. We put her on oxygen at first hoping that would stabilize her, we put her on a CPAP machine with high flow oxygen. The CPAP is the mask on her nose and it provides a steady flow of air so she doesn't have to work so hard to breathe. We haven't had to intubate her yet but we are monitoring her in case the apnea gets worse. She also has a low-grade intraventricular hemorrhage, a mild brain bleed, we doubt it'll need intervention but we're watching it. She has jaundice, which means that her liver isn't functioning at full capacity but we're treating it with phototherapy, that's the light that she is under. The jaundice is already improving so I'm not concerned about that. She was exposed to something and has an infection, we are treating it with antibiotics and we'll monitor that as well. She was dropped off wrapped in a thin pillowcase and since it's winter and we don't know how long she was exposed to the elements it's possible that she could develop pneumonia. I believe that is unlikely but we-" Dr. Lothian was cut off by Booth as he suddenly let out a burst of frustration and started to speak loudly at the doctor. "All you're doing is watching her! You aren't treating her for anything. You're not doing your job!"

"BOOTH!" Booth turned his head to face Brennan when he heard her shout. "Don't yell at him. They are treating her. They are doing the best for her. Would you want to put her through unnecessary pain and procedures for no good reason?" She looked at him and he slightly shook his head but she saw it. "That's what I thought. In situations like these sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing. You're an Alpha male and they protect their families. That's what you do, you protect the people you love. But you can't protect her from this. All you can do is be here and let the doctors do their job." Booth knew that she was right. All he wanted to do was to help his daughter but he couldn't. And he knew that none of this was Dr. Lothian's fault but he felt so helpless and needed to blame someone for this. Booth looked up at Dr. Lothian ready to apologize. He just waved him off in a gesture that meant he wasn't offended and there was no reason to apologize.

"It's alright." Dr. Lothian began "I am told that and much worse almost daily. I'm not offended. Your daughter is doing really well considering her circumstances. We were expecting much worse. Things can develop later on, which is another reason we are monitoring her so closely. She'll most likely be hooked up to the CPAP machine for the foreseeable future at a minimum." Booth had visibly relaxed once realizing that he hadn't offended the Doctor and the shock of the day's events had dulled slightly.

"We aren't sure if she's a micro preemie or simply a preemie. This can affect the type of care and what we have to be watching out for. By her size, we think she might simply be premature. Could you give us an approximate date of conception? It could help."

Booth's mind completely shut down at that. He really didn't remember anything from that night. He was so drunk that he barely remembered where he woke up the next morning. Let alone what date it was.

"It was July 16th."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at Brennan when she spoke. Once Booth recovered from his shock he said; "How do you know that?"

"Well, it was the night that we had that massive fight. I went to Angela's house and you went to the bar and Elizabeth's mother. I have an eidetic memory so I can remember _exactly_ when events happen." Booth could hear the frustration in Brennan's voice even if she couldn't. He heard how the sting when she mentioned Elizabeth's mother and the emphasis on how she remembers exactly what happened that night. Everyone has their breaking point and Brennan was reaching hers and Booth couldn't blame her. If roles were reversed he would be pissed too. _Oh boy. She's pissed. I knew this was coming. Even if she didn't. I screwed up and anyone would be angry with me_ _so I can't really blame her for being a little snippy after helping me with my massive screw up._

"Ok." Dr. Lothian interjected before the partners dissolved into an argument. "That's very helpful. So, she's definitely not a micro preemie and I'm going to give an educated guess that she's about 30 – 32 weeks."

"Guesses by their very nature aren't educated. If you don't know the answer you shouldn't say things without all the facts." Brennan was getting frustrated and she knew it. She was trying her best to stay calm but was about to lose it.

"That is true. I have another family to speak to. I will see you two later."

Once Dr. Lothian left it was eerily quiet in the consultation room as Brennan tried to calm down and Booth was thinking of the best way to apologize to Brennan again.

"Bones I'm so sorry for all of this."

"What do you have to be sorry for Booth?" Brennan nearly snapped at him even though she knew that she had no right to be angry.

"The fact that after we had our fight I ran out and ended up having sex with someone. While you were so upset that you were crying and Angela had to comfort you. I should have been there. Now I have a daughter whose mother abandoned her and you're sitting here, helping me with this mess. So, I'm sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry that you've spent the better part of the last day helping me." After a minute of silence Booth continued on; "You don't have to stay Bones. You can go."

That statement got Brennan's attention and she suddenly looked at him "I'm staying with you Booth. I'm not pleased with the situation but there's nothing we can do about it now." Booth could tell that she was still annoyed with him but was trying to stay calm. He only hoped that her walls weren't going back up.

"You can yell if you want. I won't hold it against you. You're allowed to be upset with me."

Brennan took a deep breath to organize her thoughts when she spoke. "I am not mad at you Booth. I am mad about how we got into this situation. You hurt me terribly. You said _horrible_ things to me Booth and the fact that right after you said them you went and had sex with another woman while Angela had to calm me down. You made me think that you didn't care. Then on top of that, I find out that you went out and HAD SEX while I couldn't be calmed down, no matter how hard Angela tried. So yeah, I'm upset Booth!" Brennan had got increasingly louder throughout her speech and was nearly screaming at him by the end. Booth was looking down in guilt and shame. To an outsider, it would look like a man had been caught cheating and was feeling ashamed of the act itself, not for simply getting caught. Neither person knew why they were reacting the way they were.

 _Why is she acting like I cheated on her? We aren't together, no matter how much I wish we were. Unless? No way. She can't. She doesn't feel the same. That would explain her reaction though._

Little did Booth know that Brennan was thinking very similar thoughts; _Why does he look so guilty? It's not like he cheated on me. We aren't together, no matter how much I wish we were. I've been cheated on in the past and I wasn't upset then. Humans aren't supposed to be a monogamous species. So, why do I care so much that he had sex with someone else while I felt so hurt? He's managing to change how I think, no one else has done that before. I want him around, I can't lose him. Do I love him? I don't know, that thought hasn't changed completely. It may be changing, but I don't have an answer._ Brennan was shocked at herself as she realized just how strong her feelings were for Booth, but she began to bury that thought to analyze later when she had time to think. She took another deep breath to calm down then said; "But don't ever think that because I'm a little angry at you right now that I don't care for your daughter or won't help you."

Booth's head snapped up with a little smile on his face when she said that she still cared about him and that she was still going to help him. He stood up and wrapped Brennan in the second hug of the day. After a minute Booth spoke against the top of Brennan's head; "I really am so sorry Bones. Please don't ever think that I don't care about you. I will ALWAYS care about you. No matter what." Brennan smiled and thought about how much she liked being held by him then she muttered: "Thank you, Booth." It was quiet and it was muffled by his shirt so he nearly missed it.

"For what Bones?"

Brennan hesitated then said; "For caring."

"No thanks, necessary Bones."

Brennan reluctantly backed out of Booth's arms after another minute. She smiled at him then said; "Let's go back. I don't like leaving her alone." Before Booth had a chance to say anything Brennan was heading out of the consultation room and back towards the NICU. He followed her out thinking that he was so grateful for her and would spend as much time as she'd let him, showing her how much he cared.

* * *

 **AN: E** **veryone will make an appearance. This includes Pops, Parker, the entire squint squad, even Rebecca will show and will probably yell at Booth a bit. Jared probably won't just because I had no patience for him, he MIGHT get mentioned.**

 **What did you guys think? Good? Bad? Review please!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to get this up. 4th year is kicking my ass. Plus I had a crappy two weeks which did not exactly put me in the writing mood. I've got news! I've written the epilogue for this story after a bizarre train of thought that could rival Lorelai Gilmore. I'll give you a teaser, it's sweet and cheesy and I got the idea from an episode of Call the Midwife.**

 **Thank you all for the lovely reviews and follows! They mean so much to me!**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

After they came back from the consultation room the partners sat beside Elizabeth's incubator for hours and eventually it had gotten late. Booth had begun getting worried about Brennan. It had been a long day and she was getting tired and she was falling asleep with her head perched on the table next to Elizabeth's incubator. Booth moved over to Brennan and put his hand on her back trying to wake her.

"Bones. Bones, c'mon, wakey wakey."

"No, I'm sleeping.

"Bones, you're not going to get any rest here. Let me call Angela and get her to pick you up so you can go home and get some sleep." That jolted Brennan out of her sleep induced haze.

"No Booth. I'm not leaving you here alone and I'm not leaving Elizabeth. Also, what about your back? Your back won't be any better off than if I stay and don't get any rest." Booth and Brennan stared at each other, both knowing that the other was right but neither willing to give up. Finally, Booth broke the staring contest. "Fine." His eyes lit up as he got an idea. "I'll be right back!" Brennan watched Booth as he sprinted (as much as someone can sprint in a NICU) to the nurse's station. She couldn't hear what they were saying and suddenly the nurse he was talking to walked out. Booth stayed leaning against the nurse's station. He turned his head and looked at Brennan, he smiled at her in such a way that she knew that he had come up with a ridiculous plan and put it in motion. At that moment, the nurse came back into the NICU with an actual chair. It definitely looked more comfortable than the stool that she was currently sitting on though it was still a hospital issue chair.

"Booth? What are you doing? You're going to hurt your back." Brennan said as Booth lifted up the chair and brought it over to where Brennan was sitting next to Elizabeth's incubator.

Booth smirked at her as he put the chair down next to her. "Well since neither of us will leave and there is no way you could get any sleep propped up while sitting on that stool I figured that at least one of us could get some sleep."

"Booth, if you spend the whole night on one of these stools your back might go out completely."

"Bones! I'm not a fragile old man."

"No, you're not. But, certain vertebrae in your spine are weaker than the vertebrae of other men your age."

"Bones! You know what fine I'll sleep in the chair simply so you'll stop talking about my old vertebrae." Booth sat down in the chair while Bones repositioned herself to try and fall asleep again.

After a while, Booth looked over and realized that Bones was falling asleep and he was sitting in the chair that he specifically got for her to sleep in. For a few minutes Booth watched Elizabeth then his eyes flitted back to Brennan who was out cold. "Oh, Bones," Booth whispered as he got out of his chair. Before he fully realized what, he was doing he scooped Brennan up bridal style to carry her back to the chair. Brennan mumbled a little and curled into Booth as he carried her. "Go back to sleep Bones," Booth spoke against the top of Brennan's head as he moved her from the stool to the chair. "I'm just moving you so you'll be a little more comfortable." As he sat down Brennan mumbled something that sounded a little like 'ok'. Booth sat down with the sleepy anthropologist in his lap. Booth still couldn't believe that Brennan had spent so much time helping him and now refused to leave his daughter alone in the hospital. As Booth was thinking about how lucky he was to have a partner like Bones he fell asleep.

* * *

Booth and Brennan were startled awake by the beeping of machines over Elizabeth's incubator. Brennan practically leapt off Booth's lap to get to the incubator without paying any attention to the very intimate position that she and Booth had been sleeping in. Before Booth had fully registered what was going on Brennan had discovered that the alarms had meant that Elizabeth had stopped breathing. Booth watched as Brennan jumped into action and started rubbing Elizabeth's back trying to coax her to breathe. "Come on Lizzie, you can do it. Breathe for me baby girl." Booth got up and was about to go over to Brennan and see how to help because he wanted to do something but knew that right now it would be best if he let Brennan work. He watched Elizabeth closely waiting for her to begin breathing again while Brennan rubbed circles on her back with one hand and tapped her foot with the other. This lasted for 10 seconds before Elizabeth took a breath and once she did Brennan and Booth sighed in relief.

Booth was again able to focus on what was going on around them and noticed that a few nurses were standing around and a different doctor then Dr. Lothian was watching from the nurse's station. Brennan looked up at the nurse across from her and without skipping a beat starting relaying information to the nurse. "She had an apneic episode that lasted about ten seconds and responded to stimulation in her lumbar region." Booth was amazed that she had not only managed to get Elizabeth breathing again but had timed it and relayed all necessary medical information to the nurses. If it had been him alone in the room while that happened he wouldn't have been able to do half of what she had just done. The doctor had come over and examined Elizabeth and checked her cpap and oxygen. While the doctor was examining her Booth had sat back down on the chair and Brennan had moved the stool she had been sitting on earlier to be next to the chair that they had been sleeping on so she could be closer to Booth.

"Ok." The doctor looked over to Booth and Brennan and began explaining next steps. "As this is the first time this happened I'm not overly concerned and since your wife knew how to get her breathing again we avoided a much more severe problem." Booth flushed with embarrassment while Brennan spoke up, "We aren't married we're just friends and work partners."

"Oh sorry, my mistake. Well, we're going to watch her and see if this happens again, but right now we turned her oxygen flow up a little. If this does happen again we'll have to consider changing her over to a bipap instead of a cpap. The cpap is simply blowing air while the bipap would force air into her lungs, essentially breathing for her. It's not as invasive as a ventilator but it does relatively the same thing."

"How long until we would know if it's a one-time thing or if this is something we should be worried about?" Booth asked the doctor.

"Well, that's tough to say but if this doesn't happen again in the next 24 hours I'd say that the odds of this becoming a severe issue are minimal."

"Ok, thanks." After the exchange, the doctor and the nurses had gone and once again left them alone in the curtained off area. Booth then realized that Brennan hadn't spoken during the exchange with the doctor and he knew how rare it was for her to be silent anywhere, especially in an environment where she would be knowledgeable. He looked over at her and saw that she had her eyes closed and she was slumped over that if she relaxed anymore she would have fallen out of the chair. He reached over a squeezed her shoulder. "Bones? Are you alright?" The normally impassive anthropologist had her emotions written across her face. She had been scared to death and she was crying. Booth got out of his chair and knelt down in front of her and rested his hands on her knees and started rubbing little circles on them. "Oh, Bones. It's ok." Brennan just shook her head at him.

"No, it's not Booth. I was so scared and I haven't felt like this since Pam Noonan shot you." Booth hadn't realized how much being shot and faking his death affected her. He got up off the floor and wrapped her in a hug. "It's ok Bones, I'm right here." He held her as she cried and he thought about how the last time he saw a reaction similar to the one Bones was having was when Jared was 15 and had totaled their Pop's car and nearly got himself killed in the process. He watched as his grandmother sat by Jared's bedside after he got out of surgery and prayed. She silently prayed and cried because she loved him like a parent should. At that moment, he realized that Brennan loved Elizabeth as if she was her own daughter, and that thought made him so happy. This woman who claimed that she didn't have an open heart loved his daughter.

"Hey, Bones." Brennan simply responded with a muffled 'hmm' because her face was still buried in Booth's shirt. "Do you want to go see Elizabeth?"

Brennan pulled away from Booth a little but still stayed in the circle of his arms. "What are you talking about Booth? I can see her from here."

"No, I mean do you want to get close to her and hold her hand? It might do you both some good."

"She's a baby. She doesn't understand what's going on."

"Ok, well it might do you some good. Plus, you haven't had a chance to touch her besides getting her breathing again."

"Ok, yeah. Let's go." Booth leads Brennan over to the incubator by keeping an arm wrapped around her upper waist. Brennan slipped her hand in the incubator and ran her finger along Elizabeth's hand. Elizabeth moved her hand and wrapped her hand around Brennan's finger. The two of them stayed quiet as they looked at Elizabeth and Brenan held her little hand in hers. Booth was hesitant to speak but wanted to say something to Brennan before he forgot in whatever chaos would be coming there way tomorrow. "Bones?"

"Yes, Booth?" Brennan spoke so softly he had to almost strain to hear her.

"Thank you for everything. For sticking around and for getting her breathing again. Just thank you."

"It was really no problem Booth. It was a problem I knew how to solve." After a few more minutes of silence Booth spoke again. "Where'd Lizzie come from?"

"What?"

"When you were trying to get Elizabeth breathing again you called her Lizzie. I don't mind, actually I kind of like it but, where'd it come from?"  
Brennan looked up at Booth and was silent for a minute as she shifted through old memories and debated whether or not to tell him. She took a deep breath and told him how the nickname came to be. "When I was a little girl my mom bought me a doll. It wasn't a Barbie doll like all the other girls had. It came with removable organs that I took out and leaned everything there was to know about organs. My mom got it for me because of my love of science and I loved it. I took it everywhere and for a while, it was my only friend. I named the doll Lizzie. I still had it when I was 15 and when I went into foster care I took it with me but I lost it or it got stolen." Booth chuckled a little and he quickly realized the heartbroken look on Brennan's face.

"No Bones, I'm sorry. I was chuckling thinking that my daughter's nickname came from your favourite childhood toy." Brennan just smiled tiredly up at Booth and leaned into him as his hold around her waist tightened to keep her from falling over. "C'mon Bones. Let's go back to sleep."

Brennan just nodded and let Booth lead her back to the chair. Booth sat down in and once he got settled he pulled on Brennan's hand to get her to follow him. She sat down on his lap and curled up with no protest. Before long they were both fast asleep and stayed that way for the rest of the night.

* * *

 **AN: I know it's a little OOC and I took some creative liberties with Jared's backstory. In all fairness it wouldn't shock me AT ALL if that actually happened. And yes I got the inspiration for the Lizzie doll from Anatomy Jane from Grey's Anatomy. I watch a lot of TV. It comes with the territory of having a rare disease. Netflix is your best friend.**

 **Review if you please!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Sorry for the wait on this my life has been a slight disaster lately. Between the end of the semester, a significant family emergency, I haven't had a chance to do a whole lot of writing. Well, good writing. There was a before and the dust had finally settled to deal with the after.**

 **This is equal parts pure fluff and plot movement so I hope you guys like it.**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

The next morning Booth and Brennan were woken by the ringing of a cell phone. Brennan shot out of Booths lap to get to her phone which was still obnoxiously ringing.

"Brennan." She answered groggily squatting on the floor where she had discarded her messenger bag when they walked in.

"Sweetie! What is going on? Cam was rushing around with vials of blood running a paternity test and I haven't seen you and Booth in days. Plus, Booth is taking some time off? I'd ask if you finally got on that ride but this is just too weird to be that." Booth looked over at Brennan curiously. She had a look of combined annoyance and affection on her face and he knew she was talking to Angela.

"Angela, Booth had some personal matters to take care of and he needed my help."

"What's going on? Does it have to do with the blood vials that Cam was running tests on."

Brennan got an uncomfortable look on her face. She knew she was going to have to lie to Angela and she hated lying. "I don't know what Dr. Saroyan was doing with vials of blood Angela. I've got to go. Bye, Angela." Before Angela had a chance to respond Brennan had disconnected the call. Brennan looked over at Booth who had been watching Brennan the entire time.

"That was Angela."

"I heard. How's our favourite artist?"

"She was wondering what was going on."

Booth simply smiled at Brennan and said; "Thank you for not telling her what was going on Bones. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that."

"You're welcome Booth. Besides, what's ours, is ours, right?"

"Right, Bones." Booth got out of his seat and helped Brennan off the ground. "How'd you sleep?"

"Alright. How did you sleep? How's your back?"

"Bones, my back is fine."

"Are you sure? With your weak vertebrae-"

"Bones! Enough about my back." Right as he said that he shifted trying to relieve some of the pressure. Bones looked at him knowingly but didn't say anything. A slightly awkward silence fell over the partners as they both knew how they had spent the night and neither knew how to address it. Luckily, they were interrupted by Dr. Lothian.

"How is it going over here?"

Booth looked over at the doctor happy to have something break the tension. "We're ok, Lizzie here stopped breathing last night and Bones got her breathing again."

"I'm glad you picked a name. Where'd you get it?" The doctor had begun examining Lizzie and was hoping that the conversation about her name would distract Booth and Brennan long enough for him to check her out. Unfortunately for him, Brennan was too observant for that trick and quickly picked up on what he was doing.

"Is there anything we should be worried about?" Booth eyes got wide with panic and looked closely and picked up on what Brennan had seen.

"No, at least I don't think so. Her apneic episode was not ideal but since she hasn't had another one I think it wasn't an underlying issue. Preemies often have apneic episodes so I wouldn't worry. If she has another in the next 24 hours we'll start to look for an underlying issue. But for now, she's doing well." Dr. Lothian looked at Booth and Brennan and made a quick decision. "You can hold her if you'd like."

"Really?" Booth picked right up at the opportunity to hold Elizabeth.

"Yes, but I have a condition." Booth looked expectantly at the doctor while Brennan was skeptical of the doctor's statement.

"Afterwards, go home. Go shower, find some different clothes and grab some coffee. Both of you. She'll be fine for a few hours. You can leave your phone number with the nurse and we can call you if something happens. I'd like to take her for an MRI to monitor her brain bleed, we can do that while you're gone."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Brennan said

"Yeah, I agree with Bones."

"From his suit and your work blouse I'm going to guess you came straight from work?" Booth nodded sheepishly while Brennan just seemed confused as to how someone would know that. "Change into something more comfortable, eat, and grab so coffee. Just think of us as highly qualified daycare."

Booth and Brennan looked at each other having one of their famous silent conversations. After a minute, they had made a decision. "Ok, doc. We can't promise we'll be gone long though."

"I wasn't expecting anything else." Dr. Lothian looked between the partners for a moment before speaking "So, who is going to get the honours of holding the star of the show?" Booth laughed while Brennan just seemed baffled by the phrase. Booth took notice of this and tried to alleviate some of her confusion.

"He means Lizzie, Bones. He means that since she's the focus of all of her attention she's the star."

"Oh" Brennan replied shyly "Thank you, Booth."

Realizing that Brennan felt embarrassed Booth moved closer to her and put his hand on the small of her back in a comforting gesture. "No problem Bones."

Dr. Lothian smirked at the tow thinking there was no way that these two were just friends. "Has a decision been made?" He wasn't fazed at all; half his job is refocusing his patient's parents.

Booth looked at Brennan having come to a decision and hoping that she'd agree with him. "Why don't you hold her?" Brennan looked at Booth with a look of combined shock, confusion and a hint of glee. Booth chuckled a little. He had seen hundreds of different expressions cross her features but that particular expression he had never seen but it was probably his favourite.

"Booth-I-uh, are you sure? Shouldn't it, be you?"

"No, it should be you. You've been here for all of this and she likes you."

"Booth, she's an infant. She has no likes or dislikes."

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course, I do, why would you ask me that?" Booth just smirked and carefully led her over to the chair that they had slept in the night before. It was close enough to the equipment that Brennan could hold the baby without any of her lines or monitors being pulled.

"Ok, sit down." Brennan sat and Booth could see just how nervous she was. He pulled up one of the other stools that he and Brennan had been sitting on earlier so he could sit next to her.

A nurse had come over to help with the transfer, while she opened the incubator to remove the baby she said, "Alright, you ready?" Brennan looked equally nervous and excited before responding with a higher pitched "Yes."

Before Brennan had a chance to change her mind the nurse had scooped Elizabeth up and had come over to Brennan. "Because she's still so little you'll have to hold her in a kangaroo hold. That's when you hold the baby on your chest instead of in your arms. Do you understand?"

"Yes, of course." Brennan sounded slightly indignant thinking that the nurse thought she couldn't do it or didn't understand.

"Ready?" The nurse was waiting for Brennan's ok before she would hand over the baby.

"Yes." The nurse very carefully adjusted her hold on Lizzie and moved her so Brennan could hold her. Once Brennan had a hold on Lizzie the nurse helped Brennan adjust the tubes and wires to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be.

Brennan couldn't believe that she was holding such a little person in her arms. Intellectually she understood how cells turn into a fetus and how the fetus grows and evolves in order to survive outside their mother's womb. But, at that moment, holding a little baby in her arms she didn't care about the science, she just cared about how happy she was. She knew that she cared for this little person so much that it felt like her heart might burst, even though that was scientifically impossible.

Booth was mesmerized by Brennan. The look on her face as she stared at Elizabeth telling him more than words ever could. She loved his daughter, it was plain to see. Even if she would have a hard time admitting it to herself but the way she was holding Lizzie with such care, it looked like mother and daughter and he couldn't help the stupid grin that came over his face. Brennan suddenly turned to face him and he leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead.

"Thank you" Booth whispered quietly against her head. They hadn't put any space between them yet and neither really wanted too.

"You're welcome." She responded just as quietly

From the nurse's station, the nurse that helped move Elizabeth into Brennan's arms and Dr. Lothian both watched the little unconventional family. Dr. Lothian laughed lightly and said, "Just friends my ass." The nurse just smirked as the doctor left grinning ear to ear. It was a nice change of pace to have people find love in the NICU.

* * *

Brennan had held Elizabeth for almost 45 minutes and only let go when the nurse all but pried her for Brennan's arms. After being reassured that Elizabeth would be just fine Brennan and Booth left the hospital for their doctor recommended cup of coffee and change of clothes.

On their way to the SUV Booth suddenly realized he didn't know where he was going. "Do you want me to drop you off at your place before I head to mine?"

Brennan was still a little hesitant to leave Booth alone. It had been an emotional day and she didn't have a child thrust into her life without any warning. "No. I've got a change of clothes at your place in that emergency duffel bag I keep in your closet. Let's just go back there."

"Ok, off we go."

The ride back to Booth's apartment was silent since they were both physically and emotionally exhausted. Once they got back to the apartment Booth made a beeline for the bathroom to take a shower while Brennan went looking for her clothes. Once she found them she turned on the coffeepot and quickly took her own shower. She didn't bother washing her hair since it was still clean from the day before. Once Brennan was out of the shower she rummaged around the kitchen to see if there was anything in the kitchen that would be quick to make and filling. Luckily for her Parker had discovered microwavable waffles, so he grabbed a stack of them, popped them in the microwave while looking for some fruit to go on hers while Booth would just want all the syrup.

As Brennan was pulling some things out of the fridge she saw Booth standing in the middle of his living room looking completely baffled. "Booth, what's wrong?"

"I'm going to have to move."

"What? How'd you get to that conclusion?"

"My apartment only has two bedrooms. Parker and Elizabeth can't share and this place is already crowded. Oh shit!"

"What now?"

"What am I going to say to people? Pops is going to kill me, so is Rebecca."

"I don't think they'll literally murder you, but I doubt they'll be pleased. Booth, are you ashamed of our-your daughter?"

Booth's eyebrows shot up in shock at Brennan's slip before he responded. "WHAT!? No! Of course, not! I just wish she came into the world a different way."

"Disregarding your religious superstitions" Booth glared at her. "Anyway, the facts tell me that Hank isn't going to care. He loves Parker and that was and still is a bigger mess than this. Sure, neither situation worked out the way you wanted. I'm not sure what to say about Rebecca though." Booth put his face in his hands and groaned. He had a thousand problems to solve and he had no idea where to start.

"Which problem do you want to solve first?"

"I'm hungry. I think better on a full stomach." Brennan just rolled her eyes knowing that he would jump straight to being hungry.

"Luckily Parker has decided that microwavable waffles make a good breakfast."

Booth snorted thinking about how Parker saw an advertisement for them and insisted that they buy some for breakfast. While they were eating, Brennan thought of a way to help Booth with his indecisiveness.

"How about you tell Hank first. Finding a new place to live will take time and telling Rebecca isn't urgent."

Booth smiled at Brennan glad that she had helped him sort out one small problem. "Thanks, Bones."

Before Booth could say anything else his cell phone rang. Looking down at it he checked the idea and he suddenly got very nervous.

"Well Bones, it looks like I'll be starting now." Before Brennan had a chance to ask what he meant Booth picked up the phone.

"Hey Pops, how's it going?"

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 **Hope you all liked it! Review if you please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Here's the next chapter. This took me way longer than anticipated to get up so I hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

"Shrimp! When am I going to see you next? I've got a new pack of dominoes I want to whip your ass with and bring Tempe with ya, I feel like I haven't seen her in forever. I like that one shrimp, ovaries of steel like your grams."

Booth couldn't help but chuckle at his grandfather's description of Brennan. "Well pops we'll try to get up there as soon as we can but, it might be a while."

"Why? Did you do something stupid and the pretty scientist stopped speaking to you?"

"Bones is still speaking to me but at this point, I'm not sure why." Booth trailed off hoping that his grandfather would get that there was more to the story without him having to come out and say it.

"But you did do something stupid."

"Yes, sir." Brennan was surprised to hear Booth address his grandfather that way. The ex-army ranger and FBI Agent sounded like a child about to be reprimanded for making a mess.

"Ok, Seeley." Hank had picked up on his grandsons' tone as well and knew that now was no time for teasing. "What did you do?"

Booth prepared himself as best he could and explained to his grandfather what had happened. He told Hank about the fight with Brennan and how he had stormed off and ended up at a bar where he used to play pool. He quickly shut down Hanks panic and told him that he didn't gamble but he did something else. He told him all about how he had taken a girl home and had gotten her pregnant and how he never knew, until the day before. He gave a complete account of how he and Brennan were finishing up paperwork when he got the phone call about Lizzie and how Brennan hadn't left him and all but refused to leave Lizzie alone for an extended period of time unless forced by the doctors. Booth went on about her condition and how she looked.

Once Booth finished the retelling of how Lizzie came to be there was silence until Hanks' voice boomed through the phone. "SEELEY JOSEPH BOOTH! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? YOU WEREN'T THINKING AT ALL THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE THINKING! I didn't raise you to have sex whenever you feel like it, and I DEFINITELY did not raise you to knock up a random girl and leave her alone!"

"Hey! Yes, knocking up a random girl in a bar was not one of my finer moments but I didn't know about my daughter's existence until sometime yesterday." Brennan looked over from where she was standing by the kitchen counter when Booth's voice rose.

"Yesterday?"

"Yes, I told you all of this already Pops."

"Sorry, after hearing about my newest grandchild and that the mother was some person you met at the pool hall while you were drunk off your ass, the rest I didn't really register."

"Well, the mother dropped off my daughter at the ER yesterday and told the nurse that if they ran her blood through the FBI database they'd find her father. After doing just that they found me and called me. I was at Bones' place when I got the call so she came with me to the hospital and we only got back half an hour ago."

"Whoa, she stayed with you through all of that?"

"Yeah. At one point, we had to leave because they wouldn't do the consult bedside and Bones wouldn't leave. It reminded me of that time when Jared crashed his car and-"

"And when your grams wouldn't leave his side. That's called a mother's love shrimp. I really had hoped that you kids would've figured your shit out by now and that she was the mother of that little girl."

"You and me both," Booth whispered not realizing he had said it out loud until Hank brought him back to attention.

"Oh! I knew it!"

"Pops." Booth groaned into the phone. "Now is not the time for this."

"You're right. You said that you met the girl seven months ago. Now I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure that babies need to cook for closer to nine months."

Booth snorted before he responded, "Yeah that's right. She's a preemie. She's so little and has some health issues. She has low oxygen and sometimes quits breathing while asleep so she's on a CPAP, a machine that blows air in her nose so she doesn't have to work so hard. Her brain is bleeding a little and they're just monitoring that and unless it gets worse they think it'll get better on its own. They're worried about infection because she was outside without much on and it is January so they've got her on some antibiotics as a precaution." Brennan grinned overhearing Booth's retelling of Lizzie's condition. He had picked it up very fast even though he was in quite a bit of shock when he first found out. She always knew that he was smart, smarter then he let on but sometimes his learning curve could rival hers.

Once Booth told Hank everything that he thought was necessary he realized he didn't know something very important

"What's her name?"

Booth looked over at Brennan who had been filling the coffee pot when she felt Booth's eyes on her and looked up. Without breaking eye contact Booth answered Hanks question.

"Elizabeth Temperance Booth." Booth grinned when a small blush started to spread across Brennan's face.

"Wow. How did the good doctor react to that?"

"We never actually talked about it." Booth was about to launch into what happened after he told Brennan Lizzie's name but when he looked at Brennan he stopped. Brennan was watching him carefully, observing if he was going to tell his grandfather what happened after she found out about Lizzie's name and how she proceeded to sob in his arms when she realized just how highly he felt about her. While looking at Brennan, Booth suddenly remembered a conversation they had not long earlier. About how he was upset with her when she went on a date with Hacker and when he asked her what was good to eat at the restaurant they were at she responded by telling Hacker that he likes the meatloaf at Founding Fathers but has them take out the hardboiled egg because his mom once told him that it was a human eyeball. When he later confronted her about it and when she was confused by his anger he responded simply with 'What goes on between us is ours.'

Right then he knew that he couldn't tell Hank what had happened after he told her what Lizzie's full name would be.

"Well, why not shrimp? I might not know Temperance as well as you but I think she would've had something to say about that."  
Without taking his eyes off Brennan he said; "The doctor had come in before we had a chance and then we just forgot." Brennan visibly relaxed after concluding that Booth wouldn't tell his grandfather about her moment of weakness.

Booth was brought out of his trance by the snort that came through the phone. "Shrimp, I don't believe that for a second." Booth laughed at how well his grandfather seemed to know him and Brennan though they had only met a few times. "Seeley, what now?"

"What do you mean 'what now?' I'm going to look after my daughter and love her enough that hopefully she doesn't feel abandoned by her mother." It took all of Booth's energy to not add 'like Bones' to the end of the sentence. "I've done a lot of stupid and shitty things in my life pops, and how Lizzie came into this world is most definitely on that list, but I would never abandon my kids. I'm not dad." Booth looked up hearing a clatter come from the counter. The noise had come from Brennan who had dropped a spoon.

"Pops, after mom died, even though I knew why she was gone, I still felt abandoned by her. Suddenly I was left alone to deal with dad and protect Jared. Then when he left I was so glad, I thought that I had a chance of having a normal childhood and you gave me that. You never let me and Jared feel that we were missing anything. You showed me what real love, a real _relationship_ should look like. Even though I rarely felt anything but glad that son of a bitch was gone I always promised myself that I would _never_ do what he did."

"Booth," Booth looked up when Brennan spoke for the first time since his first phone rang. Brennan came over to him and sat on the chair next to him. "You are nothing like your father. You would _never_ leave Parker or Lizzie and you would _never_ treat them the way your father treated you! You are a good father Booth and never forget that."

Booth smiled at Brennan and they slipped into one of their 'moments' where the rest of the world completely fell away.

Hank laughed as he realized his grandson had completely forgotten about him because Brennan made an appearance. "Shrimp I'll call you back later ok. I want to know everything that is going on with the newest member of the Booth family."

Hank had hung up the phone but Booth only registered the dial tone a moment after Hank hung up. Once he put the phone back in his pocket he looked at Brennan. "Thanks, Bones. After everything that went down with Rebecca I've never known if I was good enough."

"Booth, Parker _loves_ you and I've seen you fight for him so that he never thinks that you don't love him. You are a _good_ father Booth."

Booth reached over and grabbed her and squeezing it. "Thank you, Bones." Booth couldn't believe that Brennan had this unyielding faith in him, even in times when she really shouldn't.

"You're welcome, Booth."

A moment passed and neither partner said anything until Booth worked up the question to ask Brennan since Hank brought it up. "Bones, how do you feel about me naming Lizzie after you?"

"You didn't Booth. You named her after your grandmother. Her middle name is mine."

"How do you feel about her having your first name as her middle name?"

Brennan hesitated to answer. She was a scientist and relied on imperial evidence, she didn't trust her emotions. Booth saw the conflict on her face and told her what he told her when she was having writer's block. "Bones, just put your head in neutral and your heart in overdrive. You can do it." He smiled at her letting her know that she could take as long as she needed to say what she needed to.

After a few minutes, Brennan had figured out what she wanted to say. She bit her lip out of nervousness and told Booth what she had discovered. "I was shocked at first but after I thought about it, I was honoured. People respect me in a professional capacity and I am very confident in my scientific skills, but that was different. It was personal."

"You're right Bones. Don't get me wrong, I respect you in a professional capacity and I know for certain that you are smarter than me but that's not why I used your first name as Lizzie's middle name. I used it because you are the most important person in my life, next to Parker and Lizzie." Booth saw that Brennan was about to contradict him so cut her off before she could. "I mean it Bones. You're family."

"Thank you, Booth. You're family to me as well." Booth couldn't help but grin like an idiot at Brennan's admission. She rarely lets anyone see the sensitive side of her, and was glad that she was opening up to him.

Brennan got up to retrieve the cups of coffee and bowls of cereal from the counter, Lucky Charms for him and a bowl of oatmeal for her. "Oh, thanks Bones," Booth muttered around the food in his mouth, making Brennan snicker at his childlike behaviour. "I didn't realize how hungry I was until now."

"You're always claiming that you are going to starve to death if you don't eat every five hours. Are you alright?" When Booth looked at her with equal parts amusement and confusion she added, "I am quiet amusing don't you think?"

"Yes, you are Bones," Booth responded with absolutely no irony in his statement.

Once their breakfast was consumed Bones brought over her laptop and put it in front of Booth. "I started looking at a few houses that were for sale since you mentioned that you would need to move. They all have at least four bedrooms and a backyard." Booth shot out of his chair and gave her a hug.

"Thank you, Bones. I don't think I've said that enough in the past 24 hours but thank you."

Brennan smiled at Booth's ramblings and responded with a simple "You're welcome." She jumped right back into the house listings she found. "All I found was stuff online but if you want to see more you might want to call a real estate agent."

Booth backed away from Brennan and sat down to look at the laptop. "Ok, let's see what you found."

With that, the partners started shifting through the house listings until they thought that they had been gone long enough from the hospital and packed up to head back.

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 **I'm sorry that the story is going slow so I'm going to find a way to speed it up a bit.**

 **Reviews make me write faster!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Sorry! Real life got in the way! Luckily there were no massive disasters this time, just the general insanity that is my life!**

 **So, this is a bit filler at the beginning but its awesome plot at the end, so bear with me through the filler.**

 **Also, I have ZinaR and Khept for the idea for this chapter and the next one so THANK YOU!**

 **Thank you to everyone who follows, and reviews my stories! I love you all!**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

The next week somehow both dragged on and flew by for the partners. They both took time off work though neither explained why. Brennan had started staying at Booth's place that way they could deal with everything together without the extra hassle of going to different places at the end of the day. They spent their days in the hospital, rarely leaving Lizzie's side unless for bathroom breaks, meals and to talk to the doctor. Booth had taken a look at the house listings that Brennan had found when they returned from the hospital. He had also contacted a real estate agent and was looking through those listings as well, but for some reason kept drifting back to the ones that Brennan had found.

Lizzie had remained stable with no more apneic episodes, but her brain bleed had not resolved to the extent that the doctor had wanted.

As the week went on Brennan had been getting more phone calls from Angela. In all the time they had known each other, Brennan had never taken time off unless it was for a dig. After dodging her calls for a few days Brennan finally caved and answered her cell phone while she was at Booth's apartment.

"Hello."

"Sweetie! Where the hell are you? I haven't seen you in days! Did something bad happen?"

"No. Something did happen and I need to focus on that for a bit."

"What happened?"

"I can't tell you yet Angela. It involves Booth and I don't know if he would want me to tell you."

"Studly's involved in this?"

"Angela! Yes, he is. It's his thing and I'm helping him with it. I won't tell you, no matter how much you bug me."

"Fine. But I want the full details when you can tell me."

"Of course, you do. I've got to go Ange."

"Ok, sweetie. Take care of your favourite FBI Agent."

"Bye, Angela." With that Brennan hung up the phone. Brennan had started thinking about how much things were going to change. Booth's life and hers, had completely been dumped on its head in the past week and there had been a shift in her and Booth's relationship, she had started to realize that the change wasn't over when she heard a crash and Booth swear behind her. She turned around to see that Booth had walked into a stack of boxes with the top box falling and missing his foot by mere inches.

Brennan had urged Booth to start packing even though he hadn't decided on a house. The two that he had narrowed it down to had been on the market for a while and the owners were looking for a quick sale. So, once he decided he could hypothetically move it relatively quickly.

"Are you alright?" Brennan couldn't help but chuckle a little at Booth as he stood looking equally shocked and royally pissed off.

"Yeah." He grumbled. "I'll be even better once these damn boxes are outta here." He kicked the box that almost crushed his foot making him swear and Brennan flat out laugh at him.

Booth smiled at the look of happiness on Brennan's face. Even in the five years, they've known each other, he's rarely seen simple joy and he was glad he could put it there. Even if it was because he was injured.  
"I'm glad I could cause you so much entertainment, Bones."

"Well, despite how entertaining it is to see you get angry at inanimate objects, I do have a solution towards moving the boxes." Booth came over and collapsed on to the couch next to Brennan knowing what she was going to say next. "You narrowed it down to two now you need to pick. There's a very good chance that Lizzie will be discharged from the hospital in the coming weeks and I'm fairly certain that you'll want to bring her home to her own room, and all her things. Not your apartment that is half packed."

Booth groaned knowing that she was right. "You're right, Bones. The problem is that I can't decide simply by looking at the pictures."

"Then book an appointment with a realtor and go see the houses. I don't understand why this is so complicated Booth." Brennan was getting frustrated and Booth could tell.

"The problem is that these appointments would have to take place during the day and would probably go on for hours. I'm not comfortable leaving Lizzie alone for that time at this point."

"Why would she be alone Booth? You could go look at the houses and I could stay with Lizzie."

Booth sighed, he wasn't totally sure how he wanted to tell her that he wanted her opinion when looking at the houses, so he decided to go with the Brennan standard, blunt honesty. "I want you to be with me when I look at the houses."

"Why?"

"Because I trust you." Brennan was both shocked and thrilled. She loved that he trusted her enough to help him make a decision about his home. At the same time, she was pretty sure that this was not something that 'just partners' did. Yet, she was perfectly ok with that.

"Thank you for trusting me." Brennen quickly thought about the housing issue and came up with a solution that she hoped that Booth would accept. "How about you go one day and look at the houses while I stay with Lizzie. You can take pictures and show them to me and I'll give you my observations on each one. Is that a reasonable compromise?"

Booth was over the moon. He couldn't believe that she was so willing to help him with everything. He thought that if a stranger had overheard the last part of their conversation they would have sounded like a committed couple, quite possibly a married one, juggling their kids and lives while looking for a new home. Booth smiled at the image that conjured up. _Wouldn't that be something. Bones and I actually sharing a life, with our kids and a home._

"Booth?" Her voice brought him out of his daydream.

"Huh? Oh yeah, that would work I guess."

"If you really want me to see it, I could look at the house you liked best."

"Ok, that sounds good." They were Booth silent for a minute before Booth remembered the reason why he had come out of his room.

"Oh! Bones, by the way, who was on the phone?"

"It was Angela. She was wondering what was going on because previously I've only ever taken time off work to go on a dig."

"Well… um, what did you tell her?"

"Nothing. It's not my story to tell. But, I do think that we are going to have to tell people the truth soon. I don't like lying, Booth. I don't think it's productive, and you should know this." Brennan ended her sentence in an exasperated manner that Booth couldn't have ignored if he wanted to.

"I know Bones. I'm sorry about all of this. The next time Angela calls you can tell her the truth."

"Do you mean that? Because you said that what is between us is ours. Wouldn't this count as something that is ours?"

"I wish it could stay between us but it can't. So, the next time Angela calls, tell her. Plus, once Angela knows the entire Jeffersonian and the Hoover will know before the day is over. I don't want you to be lying to anyone anymore." They were quiet for a bit then Booth suddenly realized something else from Brennan's conversation with Angela. "Bones, you've taken over a week off from work. Angela's right. The only time you've ever taken time off was to go dig up bones. You should go back to work. I can manage this by myself." For the first time in years, Booth couldn't quite read the expression Brennan wore.

If there was one thing Brennan could say she loved, it was her work and anyone who knew her could confirm this. But when posed with the idea of returning to work right then left her feeling uneasy and with a little nausea coursing through her.

"I'm not going to go back to work right now. Maybe next week once we have a better sense of if Lizzie is improving."

"Are you sure? You don't have to."

"Yes Booth, I'm sure." Brennan got quiet as she thought about whether or not to tell him how the idea of going back to work made her feel.

"Bones? What are you thinking?"

"The thought of going back to work made me feel uneasy and a little nauseous. I don't know why could have on set the nausea, I haven't eaten anything odd and I'm not ill." Booth chuckled a little at the way she squintified her panic.

"Bones, you aren't sick, you were freaking out and possibly panicking a little."

"Why would I be panicking Booth, I fully comprehend what is happening and the likelihood of different outcomes."

"Yeah, but Bones this isn't a case or a research study, this is someone you care about. _A lot._ "

Brennan had different off and Booth could tell she was thinking really hard about something. He decided to just let her be while she analyzed whatever needed to be analyzed then talk to her some more. When he came back a few minutes he could tell she was done thinking but was just quiet. He figured that the odds were good that he knew what she was thinking and decided to act on it.

"Bones? I have an idea." Bones' head shot up to look at him. She hadn't heard him come back in the living room.

"Oh?"

"Wanna go to the hospital and see Lizzie?" The smile that came across Brennan's face just about made Booth's heart stop. _My god, I love this woman._ Booth had startled as that thought trickled through his mind. _Where did that come from?_

"Yes! Absolutely! Oh, if we leave now we might get some extra time with her before rounds. I like to be there that way I can hear directly from the doctorate, instead of the nurses."

"Bones! Be nice to the nurses! They're the ones keeping an eye on her when we aren't there."

"I am nice to the nurses Booth. I just don't like second-hand information."

With that Booth and Brennan left the apartment, Booth's hand at the small of her back leading her down to the car, bickering all the way.

* * *

When they got to the hospital they quickly grabbed some coffee then made their way up to the NICU. The last few times when they had entered the NICU there was just the general movement of a critical ward, except this time something was going on. And it seemed that Lizzie was the centre of the chaos.

"What's going on?" Booth asked as he and Brennan came over to the area where Lizzie's incubator was placed.

"Ah! You must be Mr. & Mrs. Booth." A new nurse addressed them. They didn't even bother correcting her. "Your daughter's ICP, so her intracranial pressure, spiked a few minutes ago. It hasn't reached a critical level yet, but we have paged both Dr. Lothian and the head of neurology. At the moment, we are giving her some medication to see if that will help."

Booth seemed shell-shocked at this information and Brennan took over knowing that Booth would be useless until he snapped out of it. "What caused her ICP to spike?"

"We don't know." One of the nurses that knew Lizzie's case and what the circumstances were, took over for the other nurse who was simply an extra set of hands. "It could either have been caused by head trauma after the birth or she could have weak arteries. Weakened arteries in the brain are common in preemie's though so I wouldn't worry. Often once the bleeding is stopped it rarely happens again. Since we were right here when it happened or odds of recovery are relatively high."

"Yes, but the effects can include stroke, loss of brain function, or side effects from medications or treatments. Death is possible, despite prompt medical treatment." Bones was staring down the nurse, she hated that she was being talked down to. She briefly wondered if this how other people felt when they were talking to her and made a mental note to ask Booth or Angela at a more opportune time.

"Don't worry Mrs. Booth," the extra nurse piped in from her space next to the incubator. "Your daughter is a fighter. She'll be fine."

"Bones…" Booth whined at her and pulled her into his side, wrapping an arm around her waist to hold her still. "Don't anger the nurses." They both fell silent and watched as the nurses rushed about trying to keep things stable until the doctors arrived. After a moment Booth had processed exactly what Bones had said to the nurse. "Is it true that death is likely even if they fix it right away?" Bones whipped her head around to face Booth.

"Oh, Booth, I'm sorry I didn't mean to worry you."

"That's ok Bones, I know you were only trying to help, but… is it true?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But, these doctors are the best in their field. Lizzie has the best shot with them."

Before Booth could reply Dr. Lothian and a woman that they could only assume was the neurologist came in. Dr. Lothian briefly greeted the partners before assisting the neurologist in assessing the information that came up on the ultrasound Lizzie's brain. The doctors quickly came to a decision and came over to the nervous partners to discuss the treatment plan.

"Hello, Mr & Mrs. Booth-" This time Brennan did correct the assumption that they were married and quickly set the doctor straight.

"I'm Dr. Brennan and We aren't married. Lizzie isn't my biological daughter, Booth had her with another woman he met in a bar and had a one night lay with and she left Lizzie here after she was born, that's how we found out. We also aren't together." Booth looked shocked and the two doctors looked like they were trying to decide if they should laugh. Eventually, Booth broke the silence.

"It's one-night stand, Bones."

"Oh."

"Anyway," the woman doctor cut off what was likely to be a long bickering session that they didn't have time for. "My name is Arizona Robins and I am the head of neurology. I have seen Lizzie's previous MRI scans and now that her ICP has spiked we ran an ultrasound on her brain to see if we can see what caused her ICP to spike. An artery blew in her Mid –brain, the area of the brain that controls your breathing, reflexes, and your swallowing reflexes, as well as other important functions. This area includes the Thalamus, Hippocampus, and Amygdala. So anything from her ability to control her emotions, form memories or control her senses and motor function could all be affected. Because of this I highly recommend surgery to relieve the pressure and hopefully avoid brain damage."

"Yes, of course. Save my daughter." Booth told the doctor. Brennan had gone unusually quiet and simply nodded along with him.

"We will take good care of her." Dr. Robins went back to Lizzie to prep her for surgery when the nurse appeared with the consent forms and handed them to Booth. "We need both of you to sign the consent forms." Booth nodded and took the forms when he realized exactly what the nurse said and looked at Brennan who looked like she was either going to bolt or vomit. Booth tightened his arm around her waist, which had never left in all the chaos, before speaking. "Please just sign it Bones, we'll fix it later."

"Ok Booth, I trust you." It sounded so small and vulnerable, not at all like how she yelled at the nurse or corrected the doctor about their relationship. She took the forms and signed where the mother was supposed to sign then handed the forms to Booth. Booth quickly signed the forms and handed them back to the nurse who didn't question the odd exchange of the partners.

The noise of a nurse unlocking the incubator in order to move it to the OR got Brennan's attention. "Wait!" Before Booth knew what had happened Brennan raced over to the group of doctors and nurses and opened up the side to brush her finger down Lizzie's little arm. Booth had managed to get to Brennan's side in time to hear or whisper to Lizzie. "Your father and I love you so much. We'll be here when you get back." Lizzie's little hand had wrapped around Brennan's finger and gave it a little squeeze, causing tears to form in the anthropologist's eyes. Before Booth could comment on what Brennan had said a nurse had gently removed Brennan's hand from the incubator in a manner that meant she had done and seen this a thousand times before, and they moved everything out to the OR.

Leaving a quiet Booth and Brennan in their wake.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry about the Grey's Anatomy reference, it was like 2am when I wrote that so there you go.**

 **I don't normally do cliff hangers, but now you will all have a very good reason to yell at me if this is not updated in a timely manner. I am going on vacation though so I'm not sure how much I'll get done in the next week. I'm hoping I can write the next bit on the plane and in the airport.**

 **Review if you please!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Guys! I had the greatest vacation. Now you would think that St. Louis Missouri would not be a high vacation spot for a person from the Canadian prairies, but I was not in charge of picking the location for the medical conference. It was SO NICE to see people with my medical condition. I have a weeks worth of complete insanity that only comes with these insane conferences and that's why I love them! OK, end rant on that.**

 **I've been asked this multiple times so, don't worry there will be a happy ending. I don't do tragedy. It will be happy and fluffy, and to make you guys feel better there is some fluff in this.**

 **I am not a doctor so I had to make up a little bit of what I couldn't find on google.**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

"We have both your phone numbers; the doctor will call when they have an update." A nurse had come up behind the stunned partners and spoken, startling Booth and Brennan out of their stupor.

"Ok, thanks. Is there somewhere we can wait." Booth asked the nurse, Brennan was still silent going over all the different outcomes.

"There is a waiting room in the basement near the operating rooms if you like. It doesn't matter a whole lot though. They will bring her back here right after surgery."

"Ok…uh…how long will it take?" Booth had taken over asking the questions since Brennan hadn't spoken a word since they wheeled Lizzie down to the OR.

"It really depends, it could be as simple as taking two or three hours, but it could also take up to seven or more depending on if there are complications."

Neither Booth or Brennan said anything in response to that. The nurse decided that it was necessary to repeat the one piece of information that she hoped that they would register. "They will call you with an update as soon as they can."

"Thank you." Brennan finally spoke, the nurse was satisfied that they had heard what she told them but they didn't seem to want to move. The nurse left them to their own devices knowing that they would move when they were ready.

Booth seemed to snap out of the stupor first and when he looked over at Brennan he saw that the rational scientist had all but disappeared for the time being, and was replaced by a scared mother. Despite the panic and insanity of the last few minutes he couldn't help but feel a little pleased that she was letting herself openly care, and that it was his kid that she was caring so much about.

Booth put his hand on her back and started rubbing little circles on her back in order to bring her attention back to him and to calm her down.

"Hey, Bones." He whispered in her ear.

"Hmmm…"

"Why don't we go somewhere to wait?" Brennan simply nodded at him, and let him take control.

Booth wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, and started leading her out of the NICU. Even though he would've stayed there, he knew that at the very least, they were in the way.

As they headed out Booth realized that he had no idea where he was going. He briefly looked around hoping for a sign of where to go.

"Left out the door, down the hall, and the waiting room will be on the right."

"Right, thanks."

Booth led Brennan to the waiting room and they sat in silence for a while. Booth had closely watched Brennan trying to figure out what was going through her brilliant mind. He had never seen her act that way and so he was worried. He was worried about Bones and he was worried about Lizzie and he wasn't sure which he should prioritize. He figured that his worry for Bones could be something that he could fix at some point so he decided to focus on that.

When the partners had sat down Booth had removed his hand from around Bones' waist, but now, seeing her so quiet concerned Booth and he wanted to comfort her any way he could. He draped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him hoping that it would bring her back to him.

"Hey, Bones." He whispered in her ear while rubbing soothingly along her waist.

"Yes." Booth had never heard Brennan sound so small or broken before. It made his heart ache and he made a silent vow to protect her from whatever else could make her feel so broken.

"What are you thinking?" Brennan sighed and laid her head against his shoulder trying to figure out the best way to answer his question.

"I don't know, Booth. And I'm not saying that because I'm lying, I actually don't know what I'm thinking." Booth recognized the growing panic and desperately wanted to help her.

"Ok. If you know one thing that you're thinking, can you tell me?"

Brennan sat up a little straighter and said, "I don't know! I just told you that I don't know and you insist on asking me again! I don't understand what's happening, Booth. And I don't understand why I'm feeling this way." Booth twisted so he could look her in the eye and saw that she might start to cry.

"Oh, Bones." Booth wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She buried her head into his chest and started to cry. Booth hugged her tighter and wondered if pulling her into his lap would be crossing a line. He decided it would and rubbed her back and spoke quietly in her ear.

"It's alright Bones. I'm right here. I've got you, baby, shhh." He barely registered that the term of endearment had slipped out. He rubbed her back and kissed her head as she slowly calmed down. Eventually, she stopped crying, though neither wanted to remove themselves from the embrace.

"I'm scared," Brennan whispered it so softly that Booth had to strain to hear it.

"Me too, Bones. I've been scared every minute since the phone rang and changed my life." Brennan backed up a little so she could look Booth in the face.

"I don't understand why I'm feeling like this."

"Right before they took Lizzie to the OR, you told her that you love her, is that true." Brennan's eyes grew almost comically large, she knew that she had said but she didn't know if he had heard her and she wasn't totally sure what she meant by that. "Well, you care a lot about her, right?"

"Of course."

"That's why you're so scared Bones. Someone you care about is in a frightening situation and there's nothing you can do to help."

Brennan shifted so she could lean against Booth's side when she did he wrapped an arm around her. It was for his comfort as much as it was for hers. The partners settled back against the couch and waited for news about Lizzie.

* * *

Hours went by and Brennan and Booth had hardly moved from their spot in the waiting room. At one point Booth had started pacing and he looked like he might shoot something, so Brennan sent him to find some coffee for them hoping that it might burn off some of his nervous energy, or at the very least, keep him occupied so he didn't shoot an orderly.

It had been about five hours since Lizzie had been taken into surgery. They had gotten periodic updates from the nurse who would call Booth's cell, but hadn't spoken to either surgeon since they took her down to the OR. Brennan was resting her head against Booth's shoulder while he fidgeted with his poker chip when the doors to the waiting room opened. Booth and Brennan stood up seeing that it was Dr. Lothian and Dr. Robbins that came into the room. Booth still had his arm wrapped protectively around Brennan's waist, though he wasn't sure if it was to keep her calm or him. Booth was not at all surprised when Brennan started speaking to the doctors in her tone that was reserved for her squinterns.

"What do you have Dr. Lothian?" Both doctors looked taken aback by her demanding tone. Booth simply grinned in pride as Brennan seamlessly slipped into her no-nonsense tone.

Dr. Lothian was less thrown by Brennan then Dr. Robbins was so he spoke first. "When we took Elizabeth into the OR we were hoping that we could simply drain the fluid by drilling burr holes into her head on the left side, above her ear. The amount of blood shown on the portable ultrasound and from the previous brain scans, we thought that the blood could have come from the surface area of the left hemisphere. We quickly realized that there was more blood and when it would not drain properly then we had hoped so we transitioned to a craniectomy. In the end, it was what we had suspected, and her midbrain was bleeding."

"A craniectomy? So, her skull has been left open to reduce the swelling I take it."

"Yes."

"What caused her brain her swell to the degree that you felt it necessary to leave her brain exposed. I fully comprehend that a craniectomy is most often used to treat a dangerous spike in ICP and that this treatment is most effective for situations like this, but I'd like to know what led to this course of treatment." Brennan stared down the doctors until they gave her the answers she was looking for.

"In the amount of time that it took for us to transition from simply drilling into her skull and draining the blood, to opening her skull completely and draining the blood and stopping the bleed, her ICP had spiked higher, and led us to believe that leaving her skull open for the time being would give her the best chance of recovery." Dr. Robins finished explaining what caused Lizzie's ICP to spike during surgery looking quite humiliated and feeling like one of her mentors had scolded her for terrible work.

"If you hadn't wasted time with the burr holes, her ICP wouldn't have spiked as high and maybe you would've been able to close her skull sooner or maybe even during surgery. Now her brain will have to be unprotected for a significantly longer period of time. Leaving her vulnerable to infections and future brain injury." Brennan let out an angry huff before continuing on. "How is she doing now? When do you think you could close her skull?"

"The surgery went well despite the spike in ICP. We were able to drain all the blood and stop the bleed once her skull was open. The reason why the surgery took so long was that we quickly discovered that the reason her brain was bleeding was due to her weak arteries." Dr. Lothian saw that Brennan was getting ready to yell at him for making another error so he quickly explained what he meant before she could. "When arteries are a delicate as Lizzie's it is visible to the naked eye when looking directly at them. We had to maneuver in a way that is rarely necessary in a person with healthy arteries, and since she's so small She is sedated at the moment and will likely stay that way until we close her skull. We don't want to take any more chances then we have to." Dr. Lothian stopped and gestured at Dr. Robins for her to continue the explanation.

"As far as when we can close her skull, I have done many of these procedures over the years and each person has different reactions to a brain bleed and swelling and they recover differently. Now the handful of infants that I've treated with a brain bleed and significant enough swelling that I thought it was wise to leave off a portion of their skull to allow for the swelling to decrease, we were able to perform the cranioplasty within a week or two. It was only the most extreme cases that were left off for more than two weeks."

"Was the skull flap preserved for the cranioplasty?" Dr. Robins was quickly adjusting to Brennan's scrutiny and had shifted as if she was speaking to a fellow surgeon, not a parent.

"Yes, it was. We were prepared for the cranioplasty and had the necessary materials ready in order to preserve the skull flap." After not being questioned anymore by Brennan, Dr. Robins went on to explain a little more about Lizzie's surgery. "There is a hole about 0.5 millimeters in diameter in your daughter's head. The hole is a centimeter above her left ear." Dr. Robins ran her finger across the spot on her head where the hole is on Lizzie.

Booth had been relatively silent until this moment. He knew that they would be able to get more information if Brennan borderline interrogated them on what happened. He had been listening and absorbing everything that was said and grinned when Brennan started speaking to them as if they were a squintern who had screwed up. When the doctor gestured to where they had operated on Lizzie Booth's blood ran cold. He moved his finger to run across the scar from where his brain tumour was removed, and it was in relatively the same spot that she was gesturing at. Above his left ear. He didn't hear the rest of the conversation because he was lost in the memories of the surgery, the dream, and the following amnesia. He didn't register anything until Brennan tried getting his attention.

"Booth?"

"Yeah, Bones?" Booth spoke a little louder than necessary considering they were in a hospital waiting room. She watched him for a minute as he rubbed his scar and she was able to figure out relatively quickly.

"You know that your tumour has nothing to do with Lizzie's brain hemorrhage, right Booth?"

"I know you're always right Bones," Brennan's face broke into a wide grin that lacked any sense of humbleness, making Booth chuckle a little. "But, I can't help but wonder if somehow the two are related somehow. Especially since they are in the same part of the brain. Couldn't that be genetic or something?"

Brennan could tell that Booth was on the edge of spinning right out of control and she desperately wanted to calm him down before that happened. "Booth, you said I'm always right so listen when I say this, the odds of you passing down your brain tumour to your children are minimal. Also, the mutation that causes most tumours, including yours, the protein caused by the mutation has to increase over time in order for it to become possible. You were in no way responsible for this."

"What if I had known about her before? I mean-" Brennan cut Booth off there before he could spin out any further.

"No, if you knew about the pregnancy you might not have been able to prevent it either. Considering she brought her here, and asked them to contact you means that she cared about her on some level, so she didn't do this on purpose. There is a medical reason this happened, but there was nothing you could've done to prevent it."

Booth just sighed as Brennan managed to calm him down. "Are you sure that they're unrelated?" Booth has only questioned Brennan a handful of times in the five years that they've known each other.

"Yes, Booth. I am sure." Booth wrapped her in a hug and whispered, "Thank You" Softly in her ear. Brennan was a little confused as to what he was thanking her for, she hadn't done anything that she though warranted thanks.

"What are you thanking me for, Booth?"

"Being here. Lov- I mean, caring about my daughter. Calming me down enough that I wouldn't shoot something."

"Well the last thing we need is you being suspended again, and I highly doubt that you want to spend any more time with Sweets."

"The kid would have a field day if he had to see me for anger management as well." What Booth didn't add was that he really didn't want another Sully either.

"I don't know what that means." Booth laughed at the very Brennan response to his last statement. The woman made gang bangers and medical doctors nervous, but she didn't understand basic phrases.

"It means that he would overreact and be extra shrinky."

"Shrinky isn't a word Booth. Yet, I think I know what you mean. He would try to psychoanalyse you even more then he already he does and be very upset that you discharged your weapon."

"You got it." Booth put on his charm smile and for a moment they got lost in one their 'moments' it took the PA system calling a code that they remembered exactly where they were and what was going on.

Booth turned to the doctor to ask one more question. "When can we see her?"

Dr. Robins looked down at her watch and smiled. "She should be settled in the NICU by now so you can go right in."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Booth extended is hand to Brennan for her to take, and to his great surprise, she took it without any question. The partners walked hand in hand back to the NICU to see for themselves that Lizzie was alright.

* * *

 **AN: I did try to find if there was any mention of WHERE Booth's brain tumour was, but I couldn't find it. So, for this particular tidbit, we're going to pretend it's in relatively the same spot.**

 **If there's anything glaringly wrong in how I describe the surgery, please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.**

 **Review if you please!**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I'm so glad that you are all liking my story so far!**

 **To the guest reviewer who left me the very in-depth review of the last chapter, I wish I could've PM'd you. I am VERY glad that you gave me the advise and corrected me. I am going on with my original plan if that's ok. I got my information from Google and was unaware that it would have been different for a preemie.**

 **There will be a happy ending I PROMISE!**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

Booth and Brennan made their way into the NICU to see Lizzie after her surgery. Even though the two of them had seen their fair share of pain in their lives they were deeply affected by the sight of Lizzie. She was still intubated and had a massive gauze wrapped around her tiny head. Making her look that much smaller.

"You can touch her if you like. Don't get too close to her head, but she'll be fine if you stroke her arms." Neither partner responded to the nurse's statement verbally but the nurse had spent enough time in this type of situations to know when to take her leave.

Brennan had been standing in the right position to quickly slip her hand inside the incubator, so she did. Rubbed her hands over Lizzie's arms and legs. To anyone else, it would look like she was trying to keep her warm, and Booth wasn't sure if she was simply trying to keep her warm or if she was analyzing her like she would a skeleton.

Either way, the partners stayed rooted to Lizzie's bedside until a nurse urged them to leave, only for them to reappear early the following morning.

* * *

The next few days flew by for the partners. Two days after Lizzie's surgery, Dr. Robins was going to replace the piece of Lizzie's skull that had been left off to let the swelling recede. Her brain had stopped swelling right after surgery and had reduced to the proper size within a day. The surgery took much less time than the initial one, taking under an hour. Not that it made Brennan and Booth worry any less.

"Don't worry. She's fine." Dr. Robins spoke as soon as she entered the waiting room. "Everything went perfectly We're going to keep her sedated and intubated for a few more days to give the sight a chance to begin to heal. But she'll be fine."

Booth and Brennan both blew out a breath of relief at that news and followed the doctor back to the NICU.

* * *

Brennan and Booth rarely left the hospital for the next few days, until the day came for Booth to go look at houses. Brennan was still staying at Booth's place. At first, it was simply convenient, then it was comforting, now she didn't want to leave and Booth was in no hurry to make her leave. He liked having her there.

The morning Booth was going house hunting he was having so much trouble getting himself out of the apartment that Brennan was alternating between feeling bad for him and laughing at him.

"Booth, we will be fine without you. I am perfectly capable of watching over Lizzie while you look at prospective houses."

"I know you're more than capable Bones, but I am still nervous about it."

"If you know I am capable, why are you nervous?"

Booth groaned not sure how to explain to his academically brilliant but socially awkward partner why he was so nervous. "It has nothing to do with you, Bones. I'm nervous because this is a big deal. I'm choosing the home my daughter will grow up in, I just want it to be perfect."

"Nothing is perfect Booth, and it is an impossible standard to meet."

"You demand perfection out of your squinterns, why can't I demand perfection from a house?"

"No, I demand high quality work from my squinterns," Booth grinned at Brennan as she used his phrase. "My _interns._ None of them are perfect, the closest was Zach and he turned out to be a psychopath." Booth looked sadly at Brennan as she got lost in memories of Zach. He was a strange guy but Booth ended up liking him quite a lot and he knew that he would always be Brennan's favourite squintern.

"Bones? Are you ok?"

"Yes, I am fine Booth. You are going to be late for your first house appointment so you better hurry. If you take Old Dominion Drive instead of Custis Memorial Parkway, you'll cut down your travel time immensely."

"Thanks, Bones, but you're forgetting something."

"What could I possibly be forgetting Booth?"

"My FBI issue SUV has police sirens built in. I won't be late." Brennan raised her eye brows then looked at her watch. "Are you sure about that, because you have ten minutes to get to the first house and it's at least a fifteen-minute drive away."

"What!" Brennan twisted her arm so he could see the watch face and he suddenly started moving around the apartment being ready to leave in under two minutes. Just before he ran out, he stopped in the doorway and said to Brennan. "Call me if anything happens and I'll get to the hospital as soon as possible."

"Of course, I will Booth. Take pictures of the houses so I can see them." Then as an afterthought, Brennan added. "That is if you still want my opinion."

"Of course, I do Bones. I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight." Brennan responded absentmindedly as she examined some x-rays that Wendell sent her to examine. Booth couldn't help but smile at the domesticity of the moment, He could clearly picture him giving her a quick kiss before he took off, and then him having to drag her out of the Jeffersonian and take her to _their_ home. Before he could get to lost in that thought he raced down to the SUV and took off with the siren on to see the first house.

* * *

Upstairs Brennan was gathering her things to spend the day at the hospital with Lizzie without Booth for the first time. She left a few minutes after Booth and when she got out of the building she could hear the faint noise of a police siren and shook her head and laughed. Of course, he would blare the sirens when it would have been far simpler than that to just leave on time. Brennan pulled out of parkade and headed in the opposite direction of Booth towards the hospital. As she settled into traffic on the freeway she started thinking about how this morning and the last few days had a certain domestic feel that a monogamous relationship would have. That thought startled Brennan, she had somehow accidentally fallen into a monogamous relationship with Booth. She wasn't frightened by the thought just stunned. As Dr. Saroyan once said, she doesn't make decisions without a flowchart, so this happening without careful planning and research was odd.

She decided that she needed help sorting through all the thoughts that were floating through her head and the strange nauseous feeling that was developing. She decided that since she couldn't go to the one person she would normally go to in that situation so she figured she was going to have to settle for the next best thing. Angela.

When she pulled into the hospital parkade and parked the car, she pulled out her phone to send off a few text messages.

 **Bones:** Do you think you'll be back by around four or five o'clock? I want to see the pictures from the houses but I'd like to go out with Angela tonight.

Brennan was shocked with herself when it occurred to her that she nearly asked Booth what time he'd be home that night. The thought actually made her smile. Before Brennan had time to think any more her phone went off indicating an incoming text.

 **Booth:** I should be home by then. :) Make plans with Angela and I'll show you the pics if we have time. You deserve a girl's night.

 **Bones:** I want to see the pictures of the house you liked the best, I don't want my plans to interfere with that.

 **Bones:** What is a girl's night? Is that a sexual innuendo that I don't understand?

 **Booth:** NO! It means a night out with your friends. Don't worry about the pictures, you will see them before I make a decision, I need your help, remember? ;) I'll try to be back by 4. Don't worry.

Brennan couldn't help but be a little disappointed that he didn't use the word 'home' when referring to his place. She didn't dwell on that thought, instead simply adding it to the long list of things that she was going to have to consult Angela about.

 **Bren:** Angela, I was wondering if you would be free to meet up for drinks tonight at the Founding Fathers at around seven? I have to talk to you about a few things.

 **Angela:** SWEETIE! I was worried that you had fallen off the face of the earth! And before you ask, it was just an expression and I know that you can't fall off the earth. Is this about Agent Studly and what you guys have been hiding? I'll be there and I want to hear EVERYTHING.

Brennan rolled her eyes at Angela's enthusiastic reply before replying.

 **Bren:** I will see you at the Founding Fathers at seven.

Brennan got out of her car and headed into the hospital and up to the NICU. As she walked in and headed over to Lizzie's incubator she realized that there were two nurses huddled around her.

"What is going on?"

"Oh, Dr. Brennan, don't worry we were just removing Lizzie's internal ICP monitor. Her ICP has been steady for the last few days and we no longer saw the need to keep it in place. Everything is going well. The doctor has also given the order to remove her sedation so she should be waking up any time." Brennan was grinning ear to ear and quickly deposited her things so she could stand next to Lizzie. Brennan put her hand inside and began stroking Lizzie's hand and spoke quietly to her.

"Hey, there sweet girl. You gave your daddy and I quite the scare. He's sorry he's not here but he's out looking for the perfect house for you to grow up in. I don't think there will be a perfect house but he's determined to find it, even if it is to prove me wrong." Brennan took out her phone and quickly texted Booth that the nurses had removed the ICP monitor and had lightened her sedation and extubated her, so she was waking up.

Brennan stood next to the incubator until Lizzie started squirming around indicating that she had woken up. A nurse noticed this and went to speak to Brennan.

"Dr. Brennan?"

Brennan reluctantly pulled her eyes away from Lizzie in order to look at the person who was speaking. "Yes?"

"Would you like to hold her?" Brennan broke out into a similar smile that she wore when she found out that they were waking her up. "Yes!" The excitement in her voice made the nurse chuckle a little and motioned for her to sit down while she untangled Lizzie from her different monitors. The nurse gently placed Lizzie in Brennan's arms and the smile never left Brennan's face.

"Would you like for me to take a picture?"

"Yes, please. Her father couldn't be here today and would love to see that her health has improved. My phone is in the outer pocket of my purse. The nurse quickly located the phone and took a few pictures before handing the phone back to Brennan. To anyone who didn't know they would think that it was a mother holding her child, the look of love in Brennan's eyes was clear to anybody who saw.

Brennan quickly sent the picture to Booth before turning back to the baby.

* * *

Booth was in the middle of the kitchen of the first of four houses that he was supposed to see that day and he was dreading how the day was supposed to go if it was anything like the first 45 minutes. This was one of the houses that the real estate agent had picked out, not Brennan. So far, Booth was unimpressed. There were three bedrooms when he asked for four, the kitchen and living room were small and there was a tv room off of the kitchen that was too dark. Booth was trying to figure out how to tell the real estate agent that they should move on when his phone rang.

He had already heard from Brennan saying that they were removing Lizzie's ICP monitor and waking her up. He had been frustrated that he couldn't be there but knew that Brennan had everything under control.

When he opened his phone, he was slightly confused when he realized that she had sent him a photo. When he opened the picture, his grin was almost identical to the one that Brennan was wearing in the picture. Brennan was grinning largely, and staring down at Lizzie with what he could only describe as having stars in her eyes. She was in the middle of stroking Lizzie's face as if she was analyzing a skeleton and trying to memorize everything. Lizzie was wide awake looking up at Brennan with one little hand fisting Brennan's shirt. Booth couldn't help but think they looked so much like mother and daughter in the picture and the fact that it was his child in the photo made him smile that much more.

"Is that your family?" Booth hadn't realized that the real estate agent had stopped speaking and come to see what had his attention. Instead of explaining the entire complicated situation he simply replied with, "Yes, that's my daughter, she's only three weeks old."

"Why is she still in the hospital?"

"She was born over two months early and had a few health problems because of her early arrival. She's doing much better."

"How's your wife doing? Any mother who gave birth three weeks ago would not be feeling like herself, but to give birth two months before you're supposed to, it must be that much harder."

Booth faltered at the insinuation that he and Brennan were married and she was Lizzie's biological mother. Instead of arguing, because it was too much effort and he didn't want to tell a perfect stranger the story of Lizzie's existence, it was hard enough for him to tell Pops, he decided to go along with it. "She's the strongest woman I know, she's keeping me sane and has taken on the doctors on more than one occasion. She had them quaking in their shoes at one point." None of what he told her was a lie and let the woman think whatever she wanted.

The real estate agent laughed at the idea of multiple doctors shaking under Brennan's stare. "Is that true?"

"Yep. Her favourite thing to do is to tell people they're wrong and incompetent. She has multiple Ph.D.'s and is at the top of her field, so when she tells you that you're wrong, you're very wrong. And she'll do it with absolutely no tact."

The real estate agent laughed then gestured for Booth to follow her for the rest of the tour. Booth followed her on his quest to find the perfect home.

* * *

 **AN: Boom! I've already got plans for the next chapter so it should be up soon.**

 **Review if you please!**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: SORRY! This chapter has been driving me bat shit crazy. Oddly enough being more busy gave me the motivation to get this done, go figure.**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

Booth was exhausted when the final house tour was finished. He knew which houses he liked best, and he wasn't at all surprised that they were the houses that Brennan had picked. As he left the house and got into his SUV, he checked the time and realized that it was only 2:30. Since he had more time in his day than originally expected he quickly texted Brennan to see if she was still at the hospital, when he got the confirmation that she was, hecourse corrected and headed towards the hospital.

* * *

Half an hour later Booth walked into the NICU to find Brennan relaxed and contently rocking Lizzie in the rocker. It took Booth another moment to realize that Brennan was also quietly humming to her. Booth simply stood and watched for a moment before making his way over to the chair. He gently laid his hand on Brennan's shoulder to get her attention. "Hey." He knelt down next to the chair so he was at eye level with Brennan. "How is she?"

"She is doing really well. Her heart rate and breathing are normal, she's awake and responsive and her ICP has been stable long enough that they removed the internal monitor. They wanted to see if she would eat anything orally so I fed her a bottle." Brennan looked back to the baby in her arms and gently started rubbing her little arms. "She has the Booth appetite, she drank it all." Brennan beamed at Lizzie then looked up to Booth "I haven't put her down. I just thought she needed to be held."

"She definitely did. I've got the pictures from the houses if you want to see them." Brennan nodded and Booth handed her the phone and she started scrolling through the pictures. "Which one did you like the most, Booth?"

"I liked this one." He said as he flipped to the house he was referring to.

"Isn't that one of the houses that I found?" Booth just shrugged his shoulders in response. "I'd like to see it in person, if that's ok?" When Booth delayed answering Brennan was worried, that she had overstepped.

"I'd love for you to see it Bones." With that sorted out, Booth and Brennan found a time that would work for them both and from some urging from the nurses they decided to go and leave Lizzie with the nurses for a few hours while they looked at the house.

* * *

A few days passed then it was the day that Brennan and Booth were to look at the house. They had spent the morning at the hospital and it was time to leave but Booth was having a hard time getting Brennan to leave.

"C'mon Bones, we've got to go. She'll be fine." Booth was just as worried as Brennan was but figured he should indulge her irrational side. It rarely shows itself and he knew he should probably savior the moment if nothing else.

"But what if something happens, Booth?"

"Then she'll be well looked after by _very_ well qualified professionals."

"But-"

"Bones, I know they don't have the same number of doctorates as you do, but I have no doubt that they're perfectly capable of doing their jobs. Plus, Lizzie's been doing so much better that the odds of anything happening are about one in a million."

"Actually the odds of something happening to Lizzie in the next few hours are closer to one in eight hundred." At Booth's expression Brennan quickly realized that she had misread the situation. "Oh, you were using hyperbole to try and calm me down."

"Yes I was. Did it work?"

"A little."

At this point the doctor interjected. "Just think of us as highly qualified daycare."

"Alright fine. I'll go, but only because I hate being tardy." Booth led Brennan out of the NICU with his hand on his spot on the small of her back.

* * *

A half hour later they pulled up in front of a yellow, detached, house. The house had four stories including a basement with four bedrooms, and a reasonably sized backyard considering the price and location. It also had a wraparound porch, which was nearly an immediate sale in Booth's opinion.

The partners were greeted by the real estate agent who gave them a brief history of the house then let them wander off to explore on their own. The house was nice, there were two living rooms on the first floor, a large kitchen and dining room with access to a large backyard. The second floor had three bedrooms, and there was an attic that had been converted to a large bedroom. The basement was large and had a bar at one end, which would make it a perfect game room. Booth was already planning on how to make it the perfect 'Booth Boy's' hangout.

"So, Bones, what do you think?" Booth later asked as they were standing in the kitchen.

"I really like it. Parker could have his own space with the attic bedroom."

"I know. I know he's only seven but it'll be good in the long run. Did you see the basement, Bones!"

Brennan laughed knowing what he was thinking. "Is that where the flat screen is going to go?"

"You know it Bones!"

The house really was designed for a family, not for a single guy, his son, who'd live there sporadically at best, and his infant daughter. But, he needed the space.

"Booth, would you be able to afford this. Have you cleaned up your debt since you're gabling days?" Booth groaned at Brennan's question. "It's a valid question Booth. Your debt was a mess not that long ago, and this is a major purchase."

"I've cleared off my gambling debts Bones. I knew that at some point I was going to have to move, so I'd been saving up for a house. I have more than enough to put down the down payment and pay off quite a bit more than that."

Before Brennan could tell Booth how proud she was of him, the real estate agent came bouncing in to the kitchen. "So, what did you think of the house?"

"It's great. I'd like to put in an offer."

"Great!" She clapped her hands in emphasis. "I've got the papers here and you two can sign then we can go from there."

"Oh, it's just him buying the house. We are just work partners, not a monogamous couple." Brennan then turned to Booth to whisper something, though did not succeed in lowering her voice much. "Why do people keep thinking that we are in a monogamous relationship Booth? Do they not know that humans were not meant to be a monogamous species?" Booth groaned at the last part of Brennan's statement. He gently put his hand on her arm hoping to show her that her upcoming rant on monogamy was inappropriate in the circumstance.

"So, you ready to sign some papers?" The real estate agent interjected before Brennan could start arguing with Booth.

"Yep. Lets do this."

After all the papers were signed and the agent told them that the owners were looking for a quick sale so they should hear in a few days at the most, the partners left the house and headed back to the hospital.

* * *

Three days later, Brennan was hiding from Angela in limbo after Booth had pushed her to go back to the Jeffersonian. She was examining a set of bones when her phone rang.

"Brennan."

"BONES! GUESS WHAT?"

"Stop shouting Booth, I can hear you just fine. I will not guess, it's illogical and the odds of getting it right are about one in a million, as you'd say."

"I got the house Bones!"

"That's fantastic Booth. Congratulations. When can you move in?"

"The house is mine as of Friday, but the lease on my apartment isn't up until the end of the month. Since a lot of my stuff is ready to go I'll move that over then be completely moved by the end of next week. I want to have everything ready when Lizzie comes home."

"That sounds very reasonable Booth."

"Thanks, Bones. I've got to go, I'll see you soon."

"Goodbye, Booth."

"Bye Bones." With that the line went dead. Brennan couldn't help but feel a little irrationally sad that she wasn't spending the night at Booth's place again and that her life was going to go back to what it was before all this.

In the silence of limbo Brennan started really thinking about what her life was going to look like now. Booth wasn't going to have nearly as much time for her now, she briefly wondered who was going to make her eat regularly and show up at her place to finish paper work or watch movies. It suddenly occurred to her that she spent so much of her free time with Booth that if he couldn't spend that time with her anymore then she would be alone again. Angela would try to be as involved as possible but it just wouldn't be the same.

Brennan hadn't realized that she was no longer alone in limbo and startled when the intruder tried to get her attention.

"Sweetie, are you ok? You look upset."

"I'm fine Angela."

"Nope. Try again, Sweetie. What the hell is going on?" Brennan sighed knowing that she wasn't going to let it go. Angela noticed that Brennan was going to spill her guts and decided to cut her off before she could start the story. "Sweetie, why don't we go to your office and you can explain whatever is going on?"

"Alright."

When Brennan and Angela were situated in her office on the couch Angela looks at Brennan with what can only be described as a glare. "Spill."

"Spill what? I don't have any liquids that I could spill, so I don't know what you mean."

"No sweetie, I mean tell me what made you sad, and for the love of god what is going on with Booth and whatever your role is."

"Do you remember a few months ago when Booth and I had a significant fight and I showed up at your place late at night?"

"Sweetie I could never forget that. You were a complete basket case! I've never seen you like that."

"I don't know what a basket case is, but if you mean I was upset, you're right. Well, he went to a bar and hung up with a girl that night-"

"Sweetie! Do you mean he hooked up with a bar slut!?"

"Yes. I don't know the girl though so I don't know if she's a slut."

"Sweetie, she had sex with someone the first night they met."

"Angela, do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?"

"I'm sorry, Bren. Continue with your story."

"Well, three weeks ago Booth and I were doing paperwork when he got a phone call saying that an infant girl was dropped at the ER, and the woman who dropped her off said to look for a paternal match through the FBI database."

"Oh no." Angela whispered thinking that she knew where this was going.

"That father turned out to be Booth."

"HOLY SHIT!"

"I must agree."

"OH, MY GOD BREN! IS THIS WHERE YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN THE PAST FEW WEEKS?"

"Yes Angela. Please stop shouting."

"Sorry. So, how is she? The baby, I mean."

"She was born premature. Almost two months premature. She originally had apnea, jaundice and an infection, all of those have been treated and are no longer issues." Brennan trailed off not knowing how to explain Lizzie's brain bleed and emergency surgery.

"Sweetie? What is it?"

"She had a brain bleed, at first we thought it might resolve on its own but it didn't. She was rushed into surgery and they had to remove part of her skull to alleviate the pressure because her brain swelled."

"Oh my god, Bren. Is she ok?"

"Yes. The surgery was successful, but Ange, it was so scary. I really thought she was going to die. I don't understand Angela. Even during Booth's tumour surgery, I was composed." Angela looked at Brennan with a look of equal pity and disbelief.

"Angela, you are trying tell me something through your facial expression but I don't know what."

"Bren, you were a mess during the ordeal with Booth's tumour. You nearly lost it a couple of times. That feeling that you are talking about is love. You love that little girl and you want to protect her. Booth is a whole other story Bren, but you love him too, you were scared that you were going to lose him and you were trying to protect him."

Brennan shook her head rapidly at Angela's statement. "No, I don't love Booth, Angela. Love is ephemeral, temporary, it is a feeling that is caused by the increase of serotonin, oxytocin, neurotrophins and pheromones. It's not real."

Angela realized that she was about to lose Brennan to the over rational place she goes to when she gets uncomfortable or doesn't understand what's happening but Angela needed more information before that could happen. "What's her name?"

"What?"

"What's the baby's name?"

"We're calling her Lizzie, but her full name is Elizabeth Temperance Booth." The shriek that came out of Angela's mouth could have shattered windows if it was any louder. "Awe, sweetie he named his daughter after you!"

"He named her after his grandmother."

"And you." There was a beat of silence before Angela asked, "Do you have a picture?"

Brennan grinned as she pulled out her phone to show her the pictures. "Oh my god sweetie, she's adorable."

"She is very handsome. She has Booth's mandible and nasal arch." Brennan grinned describing Lizzie. Angela moved on to the next picture and found what was essentially the perfect family photo. Brennan was sitting in the rocking chair holding Lizzie, while Booth was sitting next to the rocking chair on a stool with his arm draped over Brennan's shoulder. Both were smiling and looking down at the baby.

"Bren, this picture is perfect." Angela turned the phone to Brennan so she could see what she was referring to.

"It is a very good photo."

"Sweetie, you look like a happy little family."

Brennan smiled sadly at the comment, secretly agreeing with Angela but not daring to admit it. She snatched the phone from Angela and stood up. "I have been gone for almost a month and I need to identify some more remains before I head home. If you need me, I'll be in limbo. Goodbye Angela." Angela watched as Brennan marched back down to limbo to think. Her house of reason was the only thing that could provide solace in situations like this, besides Booth, but she couldn't go to Booth with this considering it concerned him on a few levels.

Brennan stayed in limbo the rest of the day hoping to find the answers to more than just the mysteries of the bones.

* * *

 **AN: The house I'm describing actually exists in DC. I spent like three days searching through real estate listings (my search history would look a little bizare to an outsider.)**

 **Review if you please!**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: GUYS, I AM SO SORRY. RL got a little crazy. I started a new job and I'm in my last year of my BA. Also, I wasn't totally sure how to write this chapter and I hope I did it justice!**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

Over the next week, Brennan spent most of her time in limbo thinking about what Angela said and hiding from Booth. He had called and at one point he had even shown up at the lab looking for her. Angela had managed to send him away knowing that Brennan needed some time to herself but had generally been left alone.

* * *

Booth was freaking out because Brennan hadn't spoken to him in a week. Over a month ago this wouldn't have caused him this much panic or confusion but he needed her, now more than ever. He had spoken to the doctor earlier that day and told him that Lizzie was ready to go home and he was freaking out. Everything had been moved over to the new house but nothing was ready. Most of the furniture was either in pieces or in strange places, there were boxes everywhere and while the crib had been built it really was no place for a baby yet.

After the seventh phone call to Brennan that went to voicemail Booth decided it was time to face the music and call Angela. He knew where Brennan was but she was avoiding him and wouldn't take his calls, but he knew Angela would at the very least make her listen. With a sigh, he picked up the phone and dialed Angela's number.

"Hello."

"Hi Angela, it's Booth."

"Well hello, Studly. How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Look, have you seen Bones?"

"I saw her this morning, I think she's down in limbo. Why?"

"Something is going on and I need her help. Have you spoken to her recently?"

"Yeah." Angela was pretty sure she knew what Booth was trying to get at and figured she'd put the poor man out of his misery. "I talked to her last Friday Booth. She told me everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything. I like the name and I saw a picture she is the cutest baby ever, and that family picture was just adorable."

"Thanks. I know, she's the most adorable baby I've ever seen, except for maybe Parker. But, Angela we're just-"

"If you say you're just partners I will teleport through this phone simply to slap you. You've been acting like a couple for close to five years and that baby has made you a family."

"Don't I know it," Booth whispered to himself but Angela had heard clear as day.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Can you tell Bones something for me?"

"Why can't you tell her yourself?"

"She's been avoiding all my calls and when I show up there she won't see me."

"Yeah. Ok, what do you need me to do?"

"Tell her that Lizzie is being discharged this afternoon and I need her help."

"What! Booth that's great! Do you have everything ready?"

Booth snorted in response. "Not even close. Her crib is set up but that's about it. The house is a mess and I have maybe one pack of diapers and something for her to wear home, but that's about it."

"Booth! Do you at least have a car seat?"

"Yes! They were talking about the possibility of her coming home a few days ago and I bought the crib and car seat at the same time. I've been spending almost all of my time at the hospital, dealing with Hacker, or dealing with Rebecca."

"Ok, how about this, since you obviously need the help I'm offering mine and Hodgins' services to sort out the house and Lizzie's clothes while you and Bren deal with the hospital and bringing her home." It took a second but Angela finally registered what had been said. "Wait, a house? Did you move?"

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that, but I've been a little distracted."

"You're forgiven big man but don't do it again. You are aware that there is a very good chance your secret will be out by today? I might need more help than just Hodgins."

"Yeah, I told Cullen a week ago and he's authorized the time off and told me he'd tell Hacker. I haven't told Rebecca yet but I've told Pops. You can tell the squints. So, are you going to get Bones?"

"Yep. Good luck Booth."

"Thanks, Ange."

As soon as Angela hung up with Booth she headed down to limbo to find Brennan. Sure enough, as soon as Angela walked into the massive storage area she spotted Brennan hunched over the exam table, squinting at a set of bones.

"Hey, Bren," Angela said, trying to get her friends attention without startling her.

"What is it, Angela? I'm a little busy at the moment."

"Well, I got an interesting phone call from Booth just now."

"Oh, what about?" Brennan was trying to hide her interest in Angela's conversation with Booth, but Angela picked up on it very quickly.

"He wanted to talk about Lizzie," Angela said very simply without giving away any information, specifically to get Brennan's attention.

"What? Is she alright? Her ICP didn't spike, again did it? They aren't performing more surgery, right?"

"Sweetie, calm down. Nothing bad has happened. She's actually being discharged this afternoon and Booth needed your help." The grin that lit up Brennan's face could've lit up a Christmas Tree.

"That's fantastic." Brennan looked back down at the bones on the table trying and failing to focus on them.

"Sweetie, Booth wants you to go to the hospital and help him and I know you do as well so go, go to your family."

"Angela, we're just-"

"Bren! I just had the same conversation with Booth about this, now go!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go. Do you know if the house is any state for Lizzie to come home to? Or if he has any of the other things he'll need?"

"Yeah, I talked to him and Hodgins and I will get the stuff that you are missing and we'll sort out the house."

"You two can't possibly do that yourself."

"We'll have help. I'll rope Wendell and Sweets into helping us, don't worry, Booth told me I could tell them. Apparently, Booth told Hacker so by the end of the day the only person who won't know is Rebecca."

Brennan groaned and stopped her almost frantic movements as she was trying to put the remains back in their box while collecting her things at the same time. "What the hell are we going to Rebecca?"

Angela grinned not missing Brennan's slip and using 'we' to describe her and Booth. "I'm not sure sweetie, but I'm pretty sure that that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later."

"Right, okay. I've got to go. Thank you, Angela, for offering to help right now."

"Anytime sweetie. But, next time I'll want it to be your kid with Booth."

Brennan just rolled her eyes and left a grinning Angela in her wake. Angela went back up to the main part of the lab to try and find Hodgins and any other squinterns who were in the lab. She spotted Hodgins and Wendell on that platform and she stormed up getting their attention. "What's going on Angie? You've got a crazy look on your face." Hodgins said as he saw his wife head towards him.

"I'll tell you soon Jack but are any other squinterns here?"

"Uh yeah." Wendell said, "Arastoo is in Cam's office."

"Great. Stay here I'll be right back." Sure, enough she returned barely a minute later with Cam and Arastoo. Before she could tell them what was going on the lab's doors slid open to reveal Sweets.

"Sweets!" Angela hollered when she saw him. "Come up here I have something to tell everyone."

Once Sweets and everyone was on the platform Angela told them what happened.

"Booth and Brennan had a baby." Ok, maybe not completely what happened.

"WHAT?!" Everyone shrieked at once. Sweets looked like he was going to faint.

"Ok, that's not completely accurate. Booth slept with a random woman and got her pregnant about eight months ago. Then this person drops the baby at the hospital telling them that Booth's the father."

"Oh." Cam suddenly said from her place on the platform. "That explains a bizarre interaction I had with Dr. Brennan last month. She called me and asked me to come to Washington General and run a paternity against to different blood samples. The test was positive."

"Ok, so why are we just finding out now," Wendell asked

"Booth didn't know about the baby until a few weeks ago and she's had some health problems, so they've been a bit distracted."

"Follow up question," Arastoo asked, "Why are you telling us?"

"Lizzie's being discharged and in all of the chaos, they aren't really prepared to bring her home. The house is a mess and they don't have much of anything. So, we need to sort out the house and go buy some things." Angela issued the marching orders and the men diligently followed her out and obeyed her commands. Angela was determined to have everything sorted by the time the little 'not' family got home in a few hours, and sure enough, that's what happened.

* * *

Brennan raced into the NICU half an hour after her conversation with Angela, she spotted Booth by Lizzie's incubator watching the nurses take the remaining leads and tubes off of Lizzie. She took a few calming breaths before walking over to him.

"Hi, Booth." Booth whipped his head around at the sound of her voice and grinned when he saw her. He took two steps then wrapped her in a hug before he could think otherwise. She buried her head in his chest realizing for the first time how much she missed him. The two of them stood in the middle of the NICU holding each other before they were interrupted by the doctor.

"Oh, Doctor Brennan, it's good to see you." Dr. Lothian stated as he came towards them.

"Hello, Dr. Lothian. I was told that Lizzie is being discharged today, are you sure that's a good idea? Early release from the hospital is known to cause just as many problems as too long of a stay, and preemies can present with other diagnoses after the initial treatments." Brennan stared down the doctor, in the same manner, she glares at her students when trying to understand their thought process.

Dr. Lothian smiled at Brennan's not so subtle interrogation, at this point he was used to her constant lecturing and took it in stride. "I'm quite sure Dr. Brennan. Lizzie has been completely stable for the past week, you are right that preemies often have other diagnoses but they often aren't caught until they are a few years old because they are cognitive issues. At this point, I believe that any issues that should arise wouldn't be any different than any other newborn, so I see no reason to keep her here."

"But-" Booth cut her off before she managed to finally piss off the doctor. "Bones, this is a good thing. If the doc is sure that Lizzie can go home, we're going to take her home. According to him, there is no good reason to keep her here, so stop interrogating the good doctor and we'll take her home. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Great. Now that we've got that all sorted out, there is one more test we need to run before we can release her."

"See I told you, she shouldn't be discharged." Bones said in an uncharacteristically panicked tone.

"Bones, can you let him finish?" The partners turned and looked expectantly at Dr. Lothian.

"We'll put Lizzie in her car seat for an hour and keep an eye on her SAT's and her heart rate. We do this for every preemie under six pounds, and since she only weighs 5.5 lbs we have to do it. I don't foresee any problems though."

"See Bones, no need to panic."

"I was not panicking, I just wanted to make sure the doctor was telling us everything and not discharging Lizzie earlier then he should out of a need to up his success rate." Booth looked at Dr. Lothian apologetically before he waved Booth off indicating that it really was no problem.

"Is her car seat here?" Dr. Lothian said trying to get the partners back to the issue at hand before they disintegrated into bickering and nothing got done.

"Yeah, it's down in the car."

"Great, can you go get it?" When Booth told him that he'd go get the car seat the doctor went to deal with some other problems before they started the test.

"Bones, while I go get the car seat, can you get Lizzie dressed?"

"What?"

"If Lizzie is anything like Parker was when he was a baby then she is going to hate the car seat and there's no point in making it worse by having her in the seat without any clothes on. C'mon you were so good with baby Andy, you can do this, plus she missed you this week."

"Booth she is an infant, she doesn't have the capacity to miss me."

"Trust me Bones, she missed you." When Bones looked like she was going to object again Booth grabbed her hand and led her over to Lizzie's bed, the incubator had been replaced with what looked more like a little crib with plastic sides. She sat down in the chair near Lizzie's crib and Booth put Lizzie in her arms. Lizzie was fussing after being woken up but calmed almost immediately after being put in Brennan's arms.

"See, she doesn't do that for me. She'll squirm and cry for a few minutes before she relaxes, but for you, she'll calm right down, it's because she's comfortable with you." Lizzie snuggled herself deeper into Brennan's hold and she smiled down at the baby thinking that maybe Booth was right.

"I'm going to get the car seat; will you be ok?"

"Booth, we'll be fine. I am perfectly capable of getting her dressed, plus she likes me." Booth grinned at Brennan, before leaving he bent down and kissed Lizzie's forehead. When he stood back up he locked eyes with Brennan, he briefly got the overwhelming urge to kiss her as well but turned and walked away before he could.

Brennan sighed when Booth left and looked down at Lizzie. "What am I going to do about that, baby girl? Angela could be right but I can't lose him. He's the greatest man I've ever known, and you'll figure this out pretty quickly too. But, it could be so complicated and hard, if I lose him and you, I'd be all alone again."

"That's not necessarily true you know." Brennan looked up at the strange voice that had disrupted her thoughts.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," The stranger stuck her hand out to shake Brennan's. Brennan warily took it while holding Lizzie a little bit closer. "My name is Sarah, we met the day Lizzie was born or the day she was brought here. You were in the bathroom, freaking out over how her father named her after you."

Brennan suddenly remembered and took the offered hand. "Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute."

"No need to be so formal, the baby is beautiful." Brennan looked at Lizzie and smiled. "Yes, she is."

A few minutes went by, neither one speaking, Brennan rocked the baby while Sarah looked on. "He loves you, you know. He seems like a good man, he's hardly left her side and the handful of times he did, most of them were to make sure you were ok."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I'm an observant person and a bored psychologist. Plus, it's like watching a soap, high drama, hilarious and at points adorable."

"I don't know what that means."

"Which part?"

"A soap, bars of soap aren't amusing or adorable."

"No, I meant television romantic dramas."

"I don't watch TV, or put much stock into psychology." Sarah looks at Brennan baffled by her statement and not knowing how to respond, she simply ignored it. "Just think about what I said about you and Seeley." With that Sarah up and left, leaving Brennan to think about what she said.

* * *

Booth returned to find Brennan pulling a black onesie that had a skeleton on the front. "There you go baby, who knew that could be so difficult, huh? I bet daddy thought that he finally found a skill that I couldn't excel at, but he was wrong, we figured it out." Brennan lifted Lizzie off the crib and bouncing her a little before continuing. "Are you ready to go home? All you've got to do is hang out in your car seat for a little while without making the alarms go off then we can go home." _Home,_ Booth thought. _Home with Bones. That's the dream. A real family with Bones._ "I hope you like your new home, I don't know what your room looks like but I bet your daddy has made it perfect for you. I do know that it has a big yard where you can run and play, your dad and big brother will be playing in that yard every weekend." Bones looked up and locked eyes with Booth. "This skeleton is not anatomically correct Booth." She said gesturing to the onesie.

"Bones, you don't have to do that, you don't have to be a super squint all the time."

"I don't know what that means." Booth chuckled not fully understanding what that meant either.

"You don't have to be a rational scientist every minute of every day, you can be irrational and cute sometimes too."

"I am not cute Booth." Before Booth could rebuttal Dr. Lothian came over to tell them it was time for the car seat test.

They put the car seat on the counter with all the appropriate monitors connected to Lizzie and settled her in for the hour-long wait.

An hour later a timer went off disrupting the odd silence in the NICU. "That's it, that's one hour." Booth and Brennan let out a collective sigh of relieve. "All right, you can sign the discharge papers then you can get out of here. Booth eagerly grabbed the forms filling them out while Brennan slipped socks and shoes on before putting Lizzie in a puffy winter coat.

"Booth, do you think she'll be warm enough in this?"

"She'll be fine Bones, we've got a blanket to put over her and I parked underground so she'll only be outside from the driveway to the front door."

"But this can't be the permanent solution to the cold weather? It's only February and she's very little."

"I didn't have time to get her a snowsuit, they oddly don't stock those at baby gap."

"I don't know what that means. Her head and hands are going to get cold, do you have a hat?"

"I…uh…oh shit." A nurse behind the desk laughed at this comment bringing the partners attention to her. "We've got some extra things stored away, we don't have a snowsuit but we do have tuques and mittens." The nurse went into a storage closet then returned a few moments later with a matching tuque and mitt set.

"Thank you," Brennan said distractedly as she tried to get the hat and mitts on the baby.

"Ready Bones?" Booth stood beside her holding a bag that came from the same storage closet as the mitts and tuque but was stuffed with the miscellaneous baby supplies that the partners and Lizzie had gotten used to in the past month.

Brennan nodded a little uncertain, not sure where she fits in this scenario. Booth saw the uncertainty and hoped to squash it before it spiraled out of control. "Come on Bones. Can you take her while I carry her stuff?"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, I trust you Bones."

Brennan grinned when she heard Booth say that he trusted her. She knew that he trusted her professionally, but knowing that he trusted her with his daughter filled her with a sense of pride that she had never felt before. Brennan picked up the baby carrier and looked at Booth. "Let's go home."

"Let's go home."

Right as they turned to leave one of the nurses stopped them, "Since she is still so small avoid letting too many people hold her and keep her out of public places for a few more weeks. IF she did contract something it would be much more serious then if she was a standard newborn." Booth and Brennan simply nodded their understanding, then Booth placed his hand at the small of her back and led her out of the NICU.

When they were gone the medical personnel left behind started talking about the display that they had just witnessed.

"Is it true they aren't together?" The student nurse had heard the rumours about the 'parents' of the abandoned baby in the NICU.

"They swear up and down they're just partners." Said Jessie, who had been Lizzie's main nurse.

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"It means that they're in serious denial." The group of nurses started to laugh. "I bet they're together by Lizzie's second checkup." Dr. Lothian stated.  
"Which is when?"

"In two months. By April, trust me. I've done this long enough to know whether or not a couple will survive a sick baby. They aren't even together and they are one of the strongest couples I've ever seen."

"I think it'll be closer to six months."

"I'll take that bet." Jessie and Dr. Lothian shook hands, cementing the bet. Both knew that the partners would get together at some point. At this point, it was only a matter of time.

* * *

 **Review if you please!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: I'm so sorry! Real life got in the way and a really good way to lose your muse is to discover Bones was taken off Netflix! I know I'm late to that realization but there you go.**

 **This is a long chapter to make up for the delay. I love everyone who reads this crazy fic!**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

"SURPRISE!"

Booth and Brennan had walked into the house to find Angela, Cam, Hodgins, Wendell, Sweets, and Arastoo in the living room, which now looked like a living room.

"Thanks, guys. And thank you, Angela, for cleaning up my house." Booth said while he moved away from Brennan to put down the gas he was carrying. While he did that Brennan took Lizzie out of the car seat. Booth looked at Brennan and grinned seeing her hold Lizzie with the amount of care and love that is almost exclusively reserved for a mother.

Angela had replaced Booths spot next to Brennan as soon as Lizzie was settled in Brennan's arms. "Oh, she's adorable. Can I hold her?"

"No!" Both Brennan and Booth yelped as Angela reached for Lizzie.

"What'd I do?" Booth and Brennan looked at each other, unsure how to explain that their friends couldn't hold Lizzie for another few weeks.

Luckily Cam came to the rescue. "How premature was Lizzie?"

"They're not sure, but about 32 weeks."

"Yeah, her immune system isn't up to par with that of a standard new born yet so if too many people held her, she could easily contract something and it could be much worse than if she was the right age."

"I'm sorry Angela," Brennan said looking at the dejected artist.

"That's alright Sweetie, I understand." Everyone quieted down looking at the baby in Brennan's arms until Cam spoke up. "Dr. Brennan I think it would be ok if Angela held her, as long as she washes her hands. We just shouldn't pass her around and exposing her to all of us." Cam had barely finished her statement before Angela fled into the kitchen to wash her hands.

"Are you sure Cam?" Brennan said sounding skeptical. "The doctor and the nurses all said not to let many people near her, though they didn't give me an exact amount which I found frustrating. They are professionally trained to deal with living newborns, you are not. You are trained as a medical examiner who performs autopsies on dead human beings."

"Yes, Dr. Brennan I do know what my job is."

Brennan was baffled by Cam's statement and turned to Booth for clarity. "Booth, was that sarcasm?"

"Yes, it was. Good job, Bones." Brennan grinned triumphantly and turned to Cam again who rolled her eyes then had resumed speaking. "I may not be a medical doctor, but I did go to medical school and went through similar rotations as them, that is my professional opinion." By now Angela had returned and sat down next to Brennan, eagerly waiting to hold the newest addition to the crazy family. Brennan was a little hesitant then slid the still sleeping baby into Angela's arms. "Oh, she's perfect guys." Booth sat down next to Brennan suddenly feeling the exhaustion of the week, or couple of weeks, Brennan slumped into Booth's side but never took her eyes off of Lizzie who had woken up and was looking around and making little noises.

"Bones, I'm surprised you aren't telling them to stop speaking baby-talk?"

"I read that it's important to make baby noises and have animated conversations with Lizzie for her language development." Booth looked at her completely shocked and amazed. "What Booth? Why do you look so surprised? I know how to use a search engine and I looked up some facts that I thought would be helpful."

"Of course, you did." Booth wrapped his arm around her shoulders pulling even closer into an awkward side hug.

"Ok, Booth, we sorted out the house and I had SO much fun shopping for her, there probably isn't one pink thing in the DC area. The boys put together all the furniture and out where I told them too." Angela said, oblivious to the partner's actions.

"Seriously man, the next time you move hire movers because that was hard!" Booth laughed while Angela glared at Hodgins who shut his mouth before he could say anything else.

"I hope everything's in the right place. I didn't unpack any boxes except for Lizzie's room. Come on I'll show you." Angela put Lizzie back in Brennan's arms before starting towards the stairs before turning around after quickly realizing that no one was following her.

Booth had started following Angela but realized that Brennan wasn't with him and went to the couch where she was sitting with Lizzie and talking to Cam. He stuck his hand out to her and smile at the confused look she gave him. "Are you coming, Bones?"

"Are you sure, Booth?"

"Absolutely." Brennan smiled up at Booth and took his hand, letting him help her off the couch. They made their way over to Angela and followed her up the stairs, oblivious to the knowing looks that the others were giving each other.

* * *

Angela pushed open the door to the bedroom that was next to the master and the spare bedroom. "Welcome to your bedroom, Lizzie!" Angela said with a dramatic wave of her arms. Angela had gone all out decorating the nursery. Booth had only purchased a crib, a standard crib with rounded tops on the end rails in light brown, and Angela had gone out and bought an entire nursery set matching the crib, changing table, a dresser, and rocking chair. The room had light purple walls with three windows along the far wall, with the closet next to the bedroom door. Angela had put the crib along the wall to the right of the door while the dresser and change table was on the opposite wall. The rocking chair was next to the window near an empty little bookshelf.

"Angela… I just… thank you." Booth stood completely stunned in the centre of the room.

"Yes, thank you, Angela. I've rarely seen Booth speechless, take pride in that." Brennan said making Angela laugh, which startled Lizzie and made her cry. Brennan started rocking back and forth gently hoping that would clam Lizzie, Lizzie stopped crying but was still fussing which prompted Brennan to make her way over to the rocking chair.

"Booth, she's ok for now but she's going to want something to eat in the next ten minutes at the latest." Booth looked at his watch noticing the time and realizing that Lizzie hadn't been fed in over three hours and was probably pretty hungry. "You're right, I hate to cut this short but Angela can you hurry this along?"

"Right, clothes are in the dresser; onesies and socks are in the top drawer, pyjamas are in the second, pants and sweaters are in the third, I've left the fourth one empty but the bottom I've put the formula and bottles that I bought. I wasn't sure where to put them. The diapers are in the drawers of the change table." Angela had walked around the room opening drawers showing them what was in the drawers as she talked. "There are probably quite a few things missing but I've got the essentials. Now, I'm going to herd everyone out of here so you can get settled." Angela gave Brennan an awkward hug with Lizzie in between them, then gave Booth a hug before leaving.

Booth went over to the dresser and pulled out the formula and bottles to make up a bottle for Lizzie. "So, how bad is it?" Brennan asked from her spot in the rocking chair.

"Not, terrible. Lots of clothes and diapers, she shorted us on the formula which doesn't really surprise me but there is enough to get through a few days, but there is stuff missing I just don't know what it is. We need more blankets and a snowsuit." Booth trailed off as he started to think, desperately trying to remember what was crucial when Parker was a baby, but since he didn't have Parker for longer than a few hours until Parker was much older Booth had no idea.

"Booth, when I don't know something I either do research by reading or asking someone who has more information in the subject then I do."

"Ok, what's your point Bones?"

"My point is that I can only think of one person who has experience in taking care of infants and she could be very helpful in this situation Booth. Plus, she needs to know anyway."

"Bones, do I have too?" Booth whined sounding shockingly similar Parker when asked to clean his room.

"Rebecca needs to know Booth. You need to tell her."

"I know, but I don't want to."

"Booth, call her you have too." Booth groaned knowing that Brennan was right and he was going to have to tell his ex about what was going on. "Ok. You're right I'll call her."

"Of course, I'm correct, I have an extremely high IQ, the odds of me being right are extremely high." Before Booth could respond Lizzie started crying in hunger.

"Booth-"

"Yep, I'm on it Bones. Sit tight and I'll be right back"

"I don't know what that means," Brennan said while Booth was grabbing the formula and bottles to go to the kitchen. "It means stay there, I'll be right back."

Brennan rocked Lizzie back and forth, stopping her crying but the little girl was still very upset. "I know baby girl, daddy's coming with your food. Normally when an infant is born they get their nutrition directly from their mothers, the hormones created while gestating urge the mother's body to lactate, but I am not lactating because I did not have the hormone increase caused by gestating. So, you'll be getting the artificial food that is a powder mixed with water. " Brennan chuckled as she realized her speaking had relaxed the baby considerably, and she was now looking at Brennan with wide eyes. "Hi, baby. Did you enjoy my squinty explanation about where you get your food? Now, squinty is not a real word but it is something your dad says. Youll probably believe in a lot of things that aren't true but you'll be so happy because of who your daddy is."

A few minutes later Booth reappeared with the bottle. He handed it Brennan and watched as Lizzie started eagerly gulping down the formula. "Is eating like you're always concerned about starving to death a genetic trait in your family? You do it, Parker does it, and I am fairly certain that Lizzie does it as well." Booth laughed and shrugged his shoulders, distracted by thinking about Rebecca. "What's wrong Booth?"

"I'm trying to talk myself into calling Rebecca." Brennan didn't know what to say so she just nodded in response. "Or, I could tell her in person. That might be better, that way she can't just hang up and cut me off from Parker."

"You're legally his father on his birth certificate, correct?"

"Yeah. I signed it."

"And you've been paying child support."

"Of course, I have!"

"Then she can't do that. You could call Caroline and get some legal protection in place, but I think the first thing you need to do is to tell Rebecca about Lizzie."

Booth groaned putting his head in his hands. "Ok, I'll call her and ask her to meet me."

"I can go with you if you want."

"No. I think I have to do this one on my own, but if you stay with Lizzie while I do it, that would be amazing." Brennan nodded at Booth's request. "Of course, Booth. I love taking care of her."

* * *

Booth had gone down stairs and was sitting on the couch in his new living room and was moving was moving his cell phone between his hands trying to figure out what to say to his ex. He finally picked up the phone dialing her number before he could talk himself out of it. The phone rang a couple of time and he thought he might get the mercy of voicemail but she picked up just before her voicemail kicked in. "Hello?"

"Hi Rebecca, it's Seeley."

"Seeley? What's going on? You cancelled on Parker for this weekend and I'm starting to get annoyed with you. You've been dropping him off earlier than normal and you won't take him overnight. What is going on? You can't disrupt his life like that." Booth sighed ignoring the last part, knowing very well that Rebecca has cancelled his weekends with Parker so often that for a while it was as rare for Booth to see his son.

"Rebecca, I've had some issues that I needed to work through and I was hoping that we could meet so I can explain it all to you?"

"If you are gambling again, so help me god I'll-"

"No! I'm not gambling!"

"Then what is it?" Rebecca said with an annoyed edge to her tone.

"I'll meet you in two hours at the diner and explain everything. Please just hear me out."

"Ok, but this better be good. If it's not, you won't see Parker again." With that Rebecca hung up leaving Booth fuming, though he was determined not to let it get to him.

Booth went back upstairs to check on Brennan and Lizzie and to tell them that he was going out for a bit. "Hey, Bones," Booth said walking back into the nursery, Brennan was sitting in the chair but Lizzie had been relocated to the crib. "I talked to Rebecca and she agreed to meet me in two hours at the diner."

"That's good. Was she angry at you?"

"She was her regularly pleasant self."

"Booth, she's hardly ever pleasant. What are you talking about?"

"She acted the way she normally acts. Was hypocritical because I cancelled for this weekend and she said I can't disrupt his schedule, then she accused me of gambling, and she topped it off by saying that if my explanation wasn't good enough I won't see Parker again."

"Booth, she can't do that!" Brennan yelped before realizing that they needed to be quiet.

"I know and I'm done with it, I'm going to talk to her but if she threatens me again I'm talking to Caroline."

"Good. Oh, while you're out can you get a baby monitor? I like sitting in here with her but at some point, I'll need to go downstairs. Can you also get more formula, some diapers, and some blankets? I don't think Angela got any, and Lizzie likes to be swaddled. The few you snatched from the hospital won't be enough." Booth couldn't help but laugh when Brennan finished speaking.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, I swear." When Brennan raised her eyebrows in disbelieve and gave him a stare that was similar to a glare, he elaborated. "That sounded a lot like a 'honey-do' list."

"Oh! I know that one! It's when a person in a monogamous relationship asks the other to run errands, or fix things when they can't. My dad used to joke about that when my mom would ask him to do something." Brennan got a faraway look in her eye that she only gets when she thinks about her childhood, before that fateful Christmas when she was fifteen.

"Are you ok, Bones?" Brennan paused and looked at Booth who was now standing a lot closer then she realized, for the first time she wondered if she should give an honest answer to that question. "Bones? You ok?"

Brennan took a deep breath before answering. "Of course, I'm fine Booth."

Booth sighed, hoping that he'd get an honest answer out of Brennan. But, he knew that she had considered telling him the truth and he was pleased for the minor victory. He knew that her walls were slowly coming down and he would give her all the time in the world if she'd open up to him completely.

"Booth, what time did you say you were going to meet Rebecca?" Booth glanced at his watch to get a more accurate time.

"In about two hours, but I have no idea how long it'll take to get there plus, I'd like to grab the baby monitor and everything else before I meet up with her. Considering it's close to four, the stores might be closed by the time I get out of the diner."

"Ok, well can you try and get a video monitor instead of just an audio one?"

"Sounds good, Bones. I'll be back later."

Booth turned and left, leaving a jittery Brennan and sleeping baby behind.

* * *

A little over an hour and a half later Booth walked into the Royal Diner looking for Rebecca. Once he scanned the place and didn't find her he picked a table and sat down. He had just ordered a coffee when the chair across from him slid out and Rebecca sat down.

"Ok, Seeley. I have been pretty patient with you now I would like to know what the hell is going on."

Booth took a breath then began telling Rebecca the story of Lizzie. "About eight months ago, Bones and I got into a massive fight." Rebecca raised her eyebrows wondering if Booth knew how much they sounded like a couple when they say things like that. "I stormed out and ended up at that bar that we used to go to. You know the one between the base and the University?" At her nod of confirmation, he continued. "I ended up going home with a girl that night. Apparently, I got her pregnant." Booth quickly continued before Rebecca could start yelling at him. "I didn't know until she left the baby at Washington General and she told them to search through the FBI database for a paternal match and they found me. She was born almost ten weeks early so she has been in the neonatal intensive care unit for the past month, and she was discharged earlier today. That's why I've been acting a little scattered."

Rebecca sat back in her seat to let this new information sink in. There were quite a few minutes of silence before Rebecca exclaimed "Holy Crap!" Another minute passed before Rebecca started to speak. "Seriously, Seeley? I would think that after Parker you would learn how to work a condom. You're an idiot." Booth just rolled his eyes at her comment. "Ok, I do understand that would cause a great amount of chaos but you have to pull yourself together Booth. You can't just disappear on Parker, he needs to see you." Booth raised his eyebrows in disbelieve at her thinking that Parker needed to see him.

"I know. I was going to introduce them next weekend but I wanted to tell you first."

"Ok, I want to see pictures." Rebecca held out her hand in a gesture that meant she expected him to put his phone in her hand. He took his phone out and opened up the pictures before handing the phone over. "She's so cute. What's her name?"

"Elizabeth Temperance Booth. We're calling her Lizzie."

Rebecca looked up at Booth in shock. "Whoa. How'd Dr. Brennan take that?" Booth thought back to Brennan's initial reaction and smiled to himself. He knew that her heart was bigger than she let on and kept herself safe by seeming aloof so having someone show the type of faith and love in her and for her that she hadn't experienced since she was a child was overwhelming. Rebecca saw Booth's expression and laughed. Booth's attention snapped back to Rebecca at her laugh. "I guess it went well?"

"It took some persuasion but she came around to the idea." Rebecca looked at Booth in disbelieve, she knew he wasn't telling her the whole story but decided to let it go. "Ok." Rebecca almost sang as she flipped through the photos. The food arrived as she was looking at the pictures, all was quiet until she came across the photo of Brennan smiling at Lizzie and holding her, while Booth looked on smiling like his whole world was sitting in that chair. Rebecca knew that he had never looked at her like that. There was always something in his eyes when he looked at Brennan but it was amplified when he saw her hold his daughter. She turned the phone towards him so he would know what picture she was looking at. "This is an adorable family photo. And please don't give me any of that 'we're just partners' crap. You were partnered with others before her and you were barely friends with some of them. I seriously thought you were going to kill Sully at one point there. But that had more to do with his relationship with her then Sully being a jackass, am I right?"

"No. Sully is a jackass and Bones and I are just partners. I swear."

"Now I think you're an idiot for another reason. Don't miss your moment with her Seeley. If you do it right, you'll be magic."

Booth was quiet as he thought about that then quickly changed the subject. "Off the topic of my non-existent love life, is there any chance you could help me a little? Most people have some time to plan for a baby, but we've been handed one and in the past month I haven't had a whole lot of time to do a lot of research. Bones has done what she could but she won't be the full-time parent, and we could use some practical advice." Rebecca didn't miss how Booth was including Brennan in his life with Lizzie and how he kept using the word 'we'. She grinned at him then started giving him practical parenting advice.

* * *

Booth came in the house carrying different bags and boxes with baby related equipment and found Brennan sitting on the floor rocking Lizzie in her car seat. "Hey, Bones."

"Booth! I was swinging her in my arms for a while and that kept her calm but then my legs and back got sore so I was afraid I'd drop her. How'd it go?"

"You're doing a great job Bones, you're a natural. Please let me take her for a bit." Booth put down the bags and picked up Lizzie, who didn't like being moved but calmed down when Booth started to rock her in a motion that was similar to that of the baby carrier. "The meeting went well actually. She yelled at me for being an idiot but she calmed down and actually gave me some useful advice. She said that she would have given me Parker's old things but she got rid of most of it except for stuffed animals and a few clothes."

"Really? What did she say?"

"Well, she said an absolute life safer was a baby swing so you don't have to spend your time swinging the baby, or doing that." Booth gestured to her position on the floor where she was still absentmindedly rocking the car seat trying to keep the baby calm. "She also said that we might want to get a basinet for a few reasons, basically we don't have to go as far to get her when she wakes in the middle of the night, and since she was in the incubator then that little crib for her whole life, she might not be comfortable in a whole crib."

"Did you get what she suggested?"

"Swing, basinet, baby monitor and other important things are in that pile. I'll start to assemble everything once I put her down.

"That's amazing Booth. I'm going to lay down for a minute if you don't mind."

"Go ahead Bones."

Brennan laid down on the couch once Booth had Lizzie comfortably in his arms and quickly fell asleep. Booth smiled seeing her fast asleep on his couch, she looked so relaxed and innocent while asleep that he hesitated to wake her. He looked down at Lizzie and realized that she had fallen asleep, he didn't want to put her in the car seat again, not knowing how that would go over with her so he decided to put her on the couch with Brennan. Once they were settled, Booth smiled at the picture they made, he quickly fumbled for his phone and took a few pictures of Lizzie laying on her stomach with her face tilted towards Booth, Brennan had draped her arm over Lizzie holding her in place. Booth looked at the picture after he took it and smiled and changed it to his phone background.

While the two slept Booth out together the different things that Rebecca had instructed him to buy. Once everything was assembled he went back to the couch to try and wake Brennan. When he tried to take Lizzie from her, she tightened her arms around the baby making it impossible for him to take her.

"Bones." He whispered in her ear and caressed her cheek with his finger hoping to wake her. When she stirred but didn't fully wake he lightly kissed her forehead hoping that would work. "C'mon, Baby, wake up." Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at Booth. "Hi."

"Hi." Booth was still absentmindedly stroking Brennan's hair and it took everything he had not to lean down and kiss her. He wished he could always see her like this, sleepy eyed and smiling up at him was a fantasy that he'd had on more than one occasion but the reality was much better than the dream.

"Can you take the baby so I can sit up?"

"Oh, yeah, sure thing Bones." Booth scooped up Lizzie so Brennan could shift into a sitting position on the couch. Brennan looked at her watch and thought that she should probably get going.

"I should be going. I have to be at the Jeffersonian early tomorrow to try and catch up on everything that happened during the time I was away. Will I see you tomorrow, Booth?" The question had the same effect as dumping a bucket of water over Booth's head.

"Oh, shit. What the hell am I going to do? I can't take much more time off before my job would be on the line and I can't put her in daycare yet, plus the Hoover doesn't have one. I could call the person I used when Parker was little, but Parker was closer to toddler age at that point, not a newborn and I don't know if they'd even do it. What do you do for daycare for newborns who can't spend much time in public?"

"Well, I think the mother normally stays with the baby until an appropriate time for the child to be exposed to a wider range of bacteria."

"That's not really an option, Bones! Hacker would love to use this as a reason to fire me, the smug asshole has always hated me and is looking for a reason to kick me to the curb." Booth's ranting had slowly increased in volume and he now was borderline shouting. Lizzie had been startled by the voices and was now screaming in frustration.

"Booth, give her to me." Booth handed Lizzie over to Brennan without question and Lizzie started to calm once she was in Brennan's arms. Brennan sang softly and swayed to quiet the baby.

"She's so comfortable with you Bones. She has never done that with me." Booth said quietly with a smile.

"What do you mean, Booth?" Brennan said as she absentmindedly rocked Lizzie to keep her calm.

"She's done that before, where something startles her, or scares her and I'll hold her and rock but she won't calm down until she tires herself out and just falls asleep. But if you do it, she'll settle right down. See, she's happy even though she was so upset two minutes ago."

"She's an easy baby, Booth. It's not hard to like her."

"Yeah, but to her, you are the most important person in her life, only tied with me."

"Booth-"

"No Bones, I'm serious I know you'd say that she's too young to understand love and who we are, but she trusts you, she knows that you are someone special and important, she's relaxed with you that means something. It means something to her, _and_ to me."

"Thank you, Booth." Brennan smiled down at the baby who was looking up at her. "You know I've got some piled up vacation days and Cam was very upset that I hadn't taken the days yet, I also have some family days unused. Cam wanted me to take them in the next few weeks anyway. I could look after her for a few weeks, then she could stay at the Jeffersonian daycare."

"What? Bones, are you serious? That's a big deal, and I couldn't ask you take time off to babysit."

"Booth, you said that Hacker might fire you for taking any more time off and if I can do something to prevent that I will. The centre has to hold Booth and it will fall apart if you don't work for the FBI anymore. Cam was going to force me to take a few weeks off before the beginning of April, at least this way I feel like my time off is serving some purpose."

Booth couldn't believe what he was hearing, Bones, _his Bones,_ was offering to stay home with his daughter until he could find adequate childcare. He stared at her in shock for so long that Brennan had started to get nervous. "Booth? If you don't want me too I don't have to."

"What? No, of course, I would love for you to do that, but Bones that's a huge ask and you don't have to do that."

"Then we'll do that. It is a simple solution, we're shooting two birds with one pellet."

Booth couldn't help but laugh at Brennan's misuse of the phrase. "I think you mean killing two birds with one stone."

"That's what I said." Brennan looked down at Lizzie and realized that she did not want to let her go. She sighed and reluctantly slid her into Booth's arms and gathered her things. "I better go, but I'll see you tomorrow, how about 7:30?"

"That should work." Brennan turned to leave before Booth called out to her. "Bones?"

"Yes, Booth?"

Booth came over to where she stood by the door. He looked at her for a minute then quickly grabbed her arm to bring her closer and leaned down and kissed her cheek. Lizzie was wedged between them but all either could think was how good it felt to be so close to each other. Booth lingered a little longer than necessary then reluctantly backed away. "Thank you, I mean it." Booth started rubbing his hand along Brennan's arm as he looked at her. Brennan smiled and leaned further into his touch loving the way that it felt.

They were both silent, having fallen into one of their 'moments', they were moving closer together until Lizzie started to cry, breaking the spell.

Brennan smiled before turning towards the door. "Goodbye Booth. I will see you in the morning."

Booth stood frozen to the spot barely whispering "Bye Bones." Before the door shut behind her.

Booth looked down at Lizzie and laughed at her wide eyed expression. "It looks like it's just us kid." He turned away from the door ready to face his first night as a full-time dad.

* * *

 **AN: There you go! There's going to be a bit of time jump in the next chapter, I'm hoping to speed this thing up a bit.**

 **If anyone is still reading this crazy thing, give me a review! I love them!**


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